Star Fox: Restoration
by Demo ODST
Summary: War never ends when the fighting stops. It takes time for the damage done to heal, and even that can become a war of it's own. For the battered survivors of the lylat system, it will take more than time to heal the damage done. (Second Sequel)
1. Home Once More

**AND OU** **R STORY CONTINUES! Special thanks going out to AEMX for help editing and smoothing this up! hope this story is doing well enough at drawing yall back in!**

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Fox found himself gripping the steering wheel of his SUV harder than he should be, his teeth grinding in his jaw. It had been a couple of months since he was literally shot in the back, his spine having been severed by the shot. A little bit of modern medicine, and technology, and he could walk again, but it was not without a cost. He almost always had an annoying pins and needles feeling throughout his right leg, occasionally losing control of that leg entirely. As such, he was having to relearn how to do some tasks he had already mastered, like driving a car for instance. He mentally cursed as he almost tried to touch the accelerator pedal with his right foot again, barely switching to his left in time. Just the feeling of using his left foot to operate the pedals felt absolutely wrong to him.

"You'll get used to it Fox." He glanced at the vibrant blue vixen beside him, her shoulder blade length hair brushed smoothly behind her ears, a few rogue bangs falling over her turquoise eyes. He tried to give her a smile, but was too focused on the road to really give her one.

"You keep saying that Krys, but it sure doesn't feel like it…" he heard her sigh, a small frown crossing his face. Krystal was a telepath, and Fox had grown so used to being around her, and literally having her inside his head, that he could feel when she was worried, or happy, or whatever emotion she might be feeling without even being in the same room. Except for on the rare occasions that she shut him out. Although, where she could judge what was on his mind without saying a word, he still needed to actually ask her. As far as he could tell, she was worried about something. "What's on your mind Krystal?" he couldn't stop his glance to her, his question eliciting another sigh from her.

"It's nothing. Just nervous I guess." Fox shrugged, knowing that likely wasn't the case, but knowing her well enough to not want to ask more. At least, not directly.

"If it's Will and Mira, there's nothing to be nervous about." He smiled toward her, fighting to keep his attention on the road. Having someone you absolutely loved in the passenger seat was quite the distraction.

"Yeah, just nervous about how Will is going to be. I mean, he was being pretty cold to her before they left for earth." Fox reached over and gently squeezed her leg, still smiling.

"He had just lost his father Krys. I'm sure he's fine by now. You heard them when he called earlier. They're fine." Fox glanced at her again as she shrugged, her attention sliding out the window. Silence filled the vehicle as Fox finished the last few minutes of the journey to the space port, stopping the vehicle in the pickup lane, accidently jerking the brake and cursing to himself. "Sorry Krys, I di-"

She instantly cut him off, smiling to him. "You're good. Our resident idiot and company are already on the tram here." Fox smirked, knowing she was referring to Will. He did do a lot of stupid things, but he always seemed to pull them off.

"Good to know." He quickly opened his door, a click of a button unfolding the cane he used, and slipped out of the car. He really didn't actively need the cane, able to walk and move around pretty well normally, the cane being more of a precaution. It gave him a way to catch himself should he suddenly lose control of his leg. He closed the door behind him, stopping for a second as he stared at his own distorted reflection. His orange and cream colored fur was clean and smooth for a change, his emerald eyes hidden behind a set of black aviator sunglasses. He couldn't help the small smirk from crossing his face, realizing just how much he looked like his father now, running his hand through the natural cream colored Mohawk on his head. Without a second thought, he stepped around the front of the SUV to get to Krystal's side, leaning back on the passenger door to wait.

Barely any time passed before Fox's keen eye's spotted Will amongst the crowd, easily standing out as one of the only humans. He was just a tad taller than Fox himself, making both of them about the average for Corneria and Earth, his brown hair now longer than Fox had ever seen him with. It was still short, mind you, but he was clearly no longer trying to keep it in any kind of Military regulation. Fox watched as he passed through the crowd, clearly having already spotted them, given he was heading straight for them. It took Fox a good bit longer to pick Mira out of the crowd, but that was quite reasonable given she was actually a little smaller than average. Even so, she was clearly looking much better, her shoulder blade length brown hair full and smooth, something it had not been for a while. She was a tan and brown Vulpine and feline hybrid, with vulpine ears and tail, and a more or less a thin vulpine snout, but much shorter in length and admittedly a little wider, drawing on some of her more feline features there. As they drew closer, he started to be able to make out more about them, seeing the very distinctive set of scars on Will's cheek, three long lines marking a felines claws. There had been a fourth scar from the incident, but it had faded over time, disappearing altogether. The others, on the other hand, were still faintly visible. Mira had a scar in virtually the same place, a single very thin line in her fur that most likely wouldn't notice unless they knew to look for it.

Fox smiled as they finally managed to finagle their way out of the crowd, cheerily waving to them. He was shocked to see that Will wasn't wearing any kind of tactical gear, just a set of blue jeans and an unbuttoned red button up shirt, a white t-shirt peeking up from beneath. He had a black backpack on, a single half-filled green duffel in his hands. Mira on the other hand, just had a small suitcase, neither one having taken much to earth with them. They both waved back, Will speaking as soon as he was close enough.

"Hey Fox, Krys. Good to see you two!" Fox popped off the car, lightly tossing the cane into his left hand so he could shake Will's hand, returning his smile.

"Great to see you too Will, hey Mira!" she gave him a smile as she and Krystal hugged, the two instantly launching into a conversation that Fox didn't pay any attention to.

"How's the leg?" Fox shrugged, not really willing to admit that it was bugging him today.

"To be honest, been better. I'm surprised you don't have any weapons on you, Mr. Paranoid." He smirked, stepping toward the back of the SUV as Fox followed.

"Not visible, sure. Pistol and knife are in my duffel. Can't exactly travel openly with them, now can I?" Fox smirked as he used his SUV's remote to open the back hatch, letting Will toss the duffel and bag in, Fox taking Mira's suitcase on his way around. She thanked him as he slipped it into the back, grabbing his cane off the rear bumper of the SUV at just about the right time, his leg going entirely numb as it began to give out on him. He tried to pretend it wasn't happening, leaning on the cane for support, a smile still plastered on his face. But he knew Will noticed, the human's steel grey eyes glancing at Fox's leg for the barest trace of a second. "You cool if I drive Fox? Be nice too." Fox smiled and nodded, closing the tailgate before limping around the side.

"Yeah, that's cool with me. Just don't wreck it, please." He tossed Will the keys before opening the rear passenger door. He let out a sigh of relief as he slipped into the back seat, his right leg still pulsing with a pins and needles feeling from a minute ago. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was beyond grateful for Will's offer to drive. Mira jumped into the seat beside Will, Krystal taking the seat beside Fox. Krystal shared a quick smile with Fox, almost instantly slipping their hands together. "By the way Will, thanks. Driving's been… hard…" Will shrugged, adjusting the mirrors before turning the engine on, pulling off the parking spot at the space port's arrival lane. "You two have a place to stay yet? The old headquarters is still in my name if you two need it." Mira chuckled glancing back at the two of them, more pointedly at the two of them holding hands.

"Nah, we're fine. Will's old landlord never rented his apartment out, so all of his furniture is still there. A little back payment and it's his again, and I still have my apartment from before Star Fox. Never stopped paying the rent." Fox nodded as Mira spoke, smiling to her.

"Well, that's good. Guess you two will need a ride home too, huh?"

"Nah, I'll call us a cab. You don't need to worry about us anymore Fox. We aint your subordinates anymore." Will only glanced at Fox in the rear view mirror, but Fox could see his smile. It never reached his eyes though.

"Alright, good. You're constant recklessness was giving me grey hairs!" everyone shared a laugh at that, unable to help themselves.

"And Krys, you better keep that promise you made, now that we're able to make the wedding." Mira was looking at them again with her brilliant sapphire eyes, smiling.

"Duh, did you really think I would forget? Miss Maid of honor." Mira seemed to shrivel up, clearly shocked. Her mouth moved several times, as if she was trying to say something but nothing came out. At that, Will reached over, giving one of her hands a gentle squeeze. That seemed to be enough for Mira to regain her voice, Mira giving Will a small smile before she grinned at Krystal.

"That's kind of you Krystal but wouldn't you rather Katt or something?" Krystal chuckled and rolled her eyes, Fox already knowing Krystal's reasoning. There were some very nice conveniences to marrying a telepath.

"Seriously? Come on Mira, you know why." She shriveled up again at Krystal's words, blushing enough that it was showing through her fur.

"I can't be that close of a friend Krys…" Fox rolled his eyes, his focus shifting out the window.

"Mira, you aren't our friend, you're a little sister to all of us." A small smile slipped across Fox's lips as he spoke, knowing through Krystal that Mira had shriveled up even more, if that was even possible.

"Ya hear that smalls? You're everyone's little sister. And you say you got no family." Fox looked at Will again, smirking at his playful joke. Mira was glaring at him, but there was a playful smile breaking out across her muzzle.

"Will, you are such a freaking idiot." He just grinned toward her, still focused on the road.

 _I'm glad those two are getting along again. It was downright painful watching them fighting so much._ Krystal glanced at him, a pained expression crossing her face, a small pang passing through their connection.

 _Not as well as it seems. He hasn't told her he loves her since Ariel, and they've been arguing a hell of a lot. He tries to avoid her._ Fox couldn't help but grimace, Krystal feeding him some of the memories Krystal was getting from Mira.

 _Damn, I would've thought he would at least talk to her…_ Krystal didn't get the chance to think back, Will cutting their private conversation off.

"You two are doing it again." Fox blushed slightly, exchanging an embarrassed glance with Krystal.

"Doing what?" he tried to play innocent, Will's eye roll telling him it wasn't working.

"Having a private conversation with Krystal's telepathy. I'm not an idiot Fox." He shrugged looking out the window.

"Meh, guess you caught us. Maybe you should become a cop. Might suit you." that bad attempt at a topic change earned him another eye roll.

"What were you two talking about?" he sounded both bored and annoyed, Fox sighing as he had hoped to not have to go into detail. Thankfully, Krystal was way ahead of him.

"I don't think you want to hear about our bedroom plans tonight Will." He suddenly grinned manically, Fox getting a sudden bad feeling about the direction of the conversation.

"Oohh, Kinky. Maybe I do want to know?" Fox coughed, unable to look at anyone else in the car.

"Tread lightly Will. Remember, I have total control over your own sex life." Mira's comment made Fox instantly snap right back to looking at the two in the front seat, it now being Will's turn to shrivel up in the front seat, his face bright red.

"Sheesh Mira, you didn't have to bring that up!" Mira laughed manically, a massive grin on her face.

"Oh? I'm not the one who brought it up. Seems like your chances of getting laid again is slowly getting smaller…" Fox covered his face, trying to not crack up laughing. He had never seen Mira manage to make Will blush as he was now. Actually, now that he thought about it, he had never even seen Will embarrassed before.

"Oh, it's not like that's important to me." Fox suddenly burst out laughing, unable to contain it anymore.

"Jeez, if I knew all it took to embarrass Will was to start talking about his sex life, I woulda brought it up ages ago!" Mira gave Fox a grin, one that honestly made Fox very uncomfortable.

"You're welcome to bring it up anytime Fox, so long as you don't pry too much. Caaause that'd be awkward." Fox only just now noticed that Mira was also furiously blushing, but was trying to hide it behind false confidence. _Guess I know how to get both of them now. Cool._ Krystal beside him rolled her eyes, likely having felt that thought.

"Can we just change the topic, please?" Fox could hear the pleading quality to his voice, deciding to entertain him.

"Anyone else hungry? I could go for some food." He heard Will's sigh of relief, the women in the car instantly agreeing and beginning the debate for what to pick up to eat.

"Why don't we cook something ourselves? A home cooked meal sounds like a good home coming." Will interrupted the debate with that, everyone falling silent.

"I'm… not much of a cook Will, sorry." Mira was grimacing in the front seat, embarrassed again.

"Uh, I'm out on that too. Gun nut, remember?" Fox chuckled, having guessed that Will couldn't cook. "Uh, Krystal… do you…um…"

"Nope! Mom wanted me to learn, but dad insisted I learn a hunter's skills first." Fox heard Will's remorseful sigh, knowing he was about to fall back on picking up food.

"I'll cook. Been awhile, so I might be a bit rusty, but should still have what it takes." Will's mood seemed to one eighty, sarcastically scoffing.

"You actually know your way around a kitchen? I'm impressed!" Fox rolled his eyes, smirking.

"Four dudes living on a ship, someone has to learn how to cook, and I wanted to eat more than just pizza. I think I could throw something together with what we got at home right now. Not done stocking the pantry and stuff yet, but I'll manage." Will smirked, still focused on the road.

"Sounds good to me. Just don't kill us with food poisoning, please." Fox rolled his eyes at the comment, smirking himself.

"Hey, I promise you won't die! Might not feel good tomorrow, but you'll still be kicking!"

* * *

I smiled as I leaned back on Fox's couch, fighting falling asleep as a Cornerian movie played, some horrible horror movie about zombies on a resort station. All of us were laughing at the terrible attempts at scaring the audience, not one of us fazed by the clearly fake and almost comical gore in the movie.

"That was actually really good Fox. You should teach me how to cook like that." I glanced at Mira as she spoke, dropping over the back of the couch and landing right beside me, almost instantly snuggled up. I rolled my eyes at the hybrid, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

"That really was pretty good Fox. Who would've thought you could make teriyaki steak in a way that blows the stuff on earth out of the water." I glanced over at the orange Vulpine on the other side of the couch, who was leaning against the arm of the couch with a beer in hand.

"Well, when your ingredients are from earth, might as well pick up some earth recipes. Maybe throw a few Lylattian twists into the mix. Spice things up." He was smirking, my attention being grabbed by the sound of a plate being set down in the kitchen, where Krystal was cleaning up from dinner.

"You sure you don't want help Krys, I feel bad for leaving cleaning up to you…" Mira glanced at me as I spoke, Krystal waving me off.

"Don't worry about it Will. You two just got home, I can handle a few dishes." I sighed, my attention returning to the screen. Before long, I found myself drifting off into memories, unable to stop myself. Before I knew what was happening, my eyes had closed and I had slipped off into sleep. Images from memories seemed to drift by, just far enough out of mind that I couldn't really tell what they were. Next thing I knew, a white furred ape was approaching me, a weapon in my hands. I quickly aimed the blaster, recognizing the individual and panicking. He already had a burn on his chest, my finger squeezing the trigger. The blast hit him square in the forehead, blasting clean through the ape's skull. But the ape merely grinned, still advancing. I kept firing, watching the red bolts rip through the ape, not even staggering him. He was just a step away when I fired one last time, closing my eyes as I did so. I could smell burnt flesh and fur, the heat off the overheating pistol bleeding into my hands.

"Wi-Will?" I heard the one uttered word, my eyes snapping open. Tears stung my eyes as I suddenly saw Mira standing before me, clutching at her stomach. She collapsed, smoke rising from the fresh wound. She looked both terrified and agonized, her blue eyes slowly seeming to lose that light they always had.

"Mira! No!" I dropped beside her, trying to keep pressure on the wound. _Why! Why did I just shoot her!_ Before anything else could happen, I was being shaken awake, feeling suddenly cold and covered in sweat.

"Will! You're fine! It's okay!" Mira was standing above me, where I was still sitting at the end of the couch. She was leaning over me, both of her hands on my shoulders. She looked incredibly worried and panicked, Fox looking over her shoulder. I quickly shoved her off, slipping off the couch and heading straight out the back door. It lead to a small deck, looking out over a large back yard, complete with a massive oak tree. I leaned on one of the railings, just looking out over the long, unkempt grass, letting my eyes close as a small breeze brushed past. _I'm still a threat to them, aren't I?_

"You okay Will?" I didn't instantly respond to Fox, just sighing to myself. "Come on man, this isn't you."

"And how the fuck would you know that Fox?" he sighed, finally opening my eyes and looking at him. He had leaned on the railing beside me, a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry Fox… I…"

"It's alright. You're still scared you're going to hurt her." I glanced at him and nodded, looking away.

"I still don't know what they did to me… Vince is still on earth, looking through the research files but he hasn't gotten back to me…" Fox put a hand on my shoulder, finding my eyes closing. "I can't hurt her…"

"You won't Will. We all got faith in you." I shrugged him off, another sigh slipping out.

"I should just head home. I'll see you guys around." I pulled my phone out and pulled up an app that auto called a cab before stepping back into the house, past the living room and kitchen area and right into the entryway, ignoring all three of the others as I grabbed my bags. I felt someone grab my hand, freezing me in place.

"Do you want me to help you get settled back in? I can spend the night at your place." I looked at Mira before sighing, shaking my head.

"Not tonight. I can handle it Mira." She sighed, my phone vibrating to let me know a taxi had arrived.

"You sure you are going to be okay? You have been having a lot nightmares lately. Hell you nodded off for five minutes and you started screaming incoherently. And we couldn't get you to wake up. What's going on with you Will!?" I sighed and hugged her, startling her just long enough to let her go and step out the door.

"I'll see you later Mira. Good night." A small sigh slipped out of me as I moved down the walk, instantly dropping my bags into the back seat of the cab before sliding in myself. I barely paid attention as the taxi pulled away from Fox's home, the sun having completely dipped below the horizon by the time the Taxi arrived at the edge of the central district. I quickly paid the driver before grabbing my bags and heading into the apartment building. I barely said more than I needed as I stopped by the reception desk. I had already called the landlord earlier that day to re-acquire the apartment, merely needing to pick the keys up now. It didn't take me long to climb the six flights of stairs and slip down the hall to my door. I stopped at the door, staring at the solid piece of wood. My eye's closed and I sighed, unable to stop a flood of memories, none of them bad in any way. I quickly shoved them out of my mind, slipping the key into the lock and quickly unlocking the door. I slipped inside without turning the lights on, the moonlight coming from the window and sliding glass door providing all the light I needed. All of the furniture was covered in plastic, but it seemed nothing had been moved in the year I was gone, not even the TV I had bought shortly after moving in was gone. There was a thick layer of dust on every surface, even on the plastic covering the couch and chairs. The main room was one large combined space, with an entertainment center and couch off the wall to my left, a small dining room table behind that, in front of the sliding glass door out onto a narrow balcony. Dead ahead of me was a bay window, looking out over the balcony to the shorter buildings beyond and to the ocean beyond. On my right was the first of the kitchen access ways, a door less door frame along that wall. There was also a window cut through the wall, showing the narrow kitchen beyond with a breakfast bar built into it, a second door less entry just beyond it. Beside that door was another door that lead to a small bathroom, just a toilet and sink. On the wall across from the kitchen was the access to the bedroom and 'office'. The bedroom was next to the living room area, a master bath with full tub and separate shower separating the bedroom and office, a walk in closet being between them as well. The office had a small closet attached to it as well, but it wasn't very large.

"Well, guess I'm here again." I let a small sigh slip out as I dropped my bags by the couch, crossing the living room and straight into the bedroom. Immediately upon entering, I saw that someone had recently come through the room, pulling the plastic off the queen sized bed along the left wall, dusting the dresser between the closet and bathroom, as well as the nightstands. I shrugged it off before sitting on the end of the bed, yanking my boots off before laying back on the bed, the soft brown blanket I had always used for the bed still on it. As much as I wanted to sleep, every time I closed my eyes, they opened back up a few minutes later, unable to keep closed. I groaned, realizing I had another sleepless night ahead of me.

* * *

Mira sighed as she made her way toward Will's apartment building, having spent the night at Fox and Krystal's. It didn't take her long to make her way to the elevator, riding it up to the sixth floor. If her memory served her correctly, his room was six-nineteen. She quickly made her way to it, gently knocking on the door as soon as she arrived. She shook her head as she silently stared at the golden colored numbers on the door, no answer coming. Her fingers jiggled the handle to find the door unlocked. Without thinking, she opened the door and stepped inside, taking a second to find a light switch, not that she really needed one, given the light coming from the window and glass door, illuminating the earthy red carpet and tan walls, a dark linoleum made to look like a tile floor covering the floor for the dining area beyond the living area. _Hmm, not a bad little place. Looks like no one's been here in a while though._ As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she noticed Will's bags by the plastic covered couch. She stepped past them and straight to the first door on the left wall, hoping it was the bedroom. She found the door to be unlocked as well, opening it to find the dark room surprisingly clean. Will was curled up on the bed, looking like he was asleep. The dark tan blanket had been cast from the bed, and by the way the sheets were darker around him, he looked like he had been sweating like crazy. A frown slipped onto her face at the sight of this, flicking the light on. The sudden change to the lighting caused him to stir, rolling over to face her. He looked utterly exhausted, and like he wasn't even truly awake at the moment.

"M-Mira?! What are you doing here?" his voice was slurred and sluggish, nearly collapsing back onto the bed as she watched. But she tried to smile for him none the less, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Well, it's morning, thought you might need a wakeup call." He groaned and fell back on the bed, his eyes instantly shutting.

"Well, good morning I guess." She rolled her eyes at him, even though she knew he wouldn't see it.

"Come on sleepy head, I know you're tired, but you have an apartment to clean, and I only have a couple hours to help you." he cracked an eye open to look at her as she spoke.

"Why's that? You look nice by the way." She felt blood rushing to her cheeks, glancing down at the tight blue jeans and red flannel button up she was wearing, clothes she had picked up on Earth.

"Well, I got an interview at a mechanics shop today. Don't much want to work in a bar for the rest of my life and who knows, maybe it'll be fun?" he smirked at her, his eye closing once again.

"That's good. You liked working on your Arwing. You'll make a great mechanic. Gimme a bit to shower and change, I'll meet you in the main room." She smiled and nodded, standing from her sitting position.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and get started." She smiled at his halfhearted wave, stepping from the room and back into the main room. She sighed at the plastic covering on the couch and over the dining room table set. She quickly pulled both off before digging through several of the drawers in the kitchen, looking for a rag. As soon as she found one, she wet it slightly and started wiping dust off every surface it had settled on. It surprisingly didn't take her long, frowning as she realized she was now covered in dust herself. _Damn it, so much for looking nice._ The shower cut off shortly after she thought that, causing her to plop on the couch and wait for him. It didn't take him long to step out, freshly cleaned up. He still looked exhausted, but at least he looked awake now, just wearing a black T-shirt and cargo pants. He glanced around the room, his eyes stopping on the balled up plastic behind the couch for a couple seconds before falling on her.

"Wow, didn't realize a few minutes of work was all the place needed." Mira smiled to him as he dropped on the couch beside her, Mira instantly snuggling up to him. She didn't even have to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes at her.

"I swear, if you were any more cuddly, you'd be a dog." Now it was her turn to roll her eyes at him, knowing he was referring to the Canines of earth, which a lot of humans kept as pets. Having run into a few, she understood why.

"Please, I'm way more cuddly than those wannabe's." he chuckled at her, causing her to bounce, given she was pressed up against his chest.

"Meh, that's debatable." She glared at him that glare melting as she saw him smiling. He may have looked absolutely exhausted, but she could never complain about seeing him smile. "Thanks for coming over Mira. I'm really sorry about last night." She smiled at him, quickly wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into the tightest embrace she could manage.

"It's fine Will! Really. You wanna go get breakfast? There's a little café not far from here." She felt him nod, bouncing off his chest and right onto her feet. He stood and stretched, disappearing into his room to grab his shoes. It didn't take him long, Mira leading the way to the door, watching as he locked it behind her. Without warning, he pulled the spare key from the key ring and tossed it to her. She barely managed to catch it in time, shocked at the action. She was about to say something when he spoke to her.

"That's yours. Can't have you banging on my door every morning I want to sleep in, can I?" she chuckled and nodded, slipping her fingers between his.


	2. Back in the Shadows

**Hey guys, sorry this took so long. between training exercise's and writer's block, its been hard to write at all. this being a radically different story than i'm used to doesnt help. anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

I slowly picked at the half eaten eggs on my plate, a small sigh slipping out. It hadn't taken the two of us long to reach the small café, and it had been surprisingly empty as well. Which I honestly took as a comfort, not having to be around people, at least for a bit. That being said, the two of us had taken a corner booth that had a very clear view of the whole restaurant, including the door. The two of us were just inches apart on the bench, even though we had plenty of space.

"You doing okay?" I glanced over at Mira when she spoke, noticing she had barely touched her food at all.

"Yeah. I'm fine Mira, just had some trouble sleeping last night. That's all." She cocked an ear at me and half-glared, another sigh slipping out of me from the action. But I remained silent, letting my gaze fall back to my food.

"I know you're not fine Will. What's bothering you? Don't shut me out, please." I could hear the underlying pleading quality to her voice, mixed with a very small amount of annoyance. I didn't blame her for being annoyed though, she had every right to be at this point.

"I keep thinking about them….." I barely managed to whisper that statement, not wanting to look at Mira at all. Instead, my focus remained on the plate of food before me, all of my nearly non-existent appetite now gone.

"Oh…" the one quiet word was all that broke the silence that began to stretch between us, neither one of us really knowing what to say. It seemed like a lifetime before I felt her wrap an arm over my shoulders, her head resting on my shoulder. "None of them are on you Will. You know that." I sighed, letting my eyes close as my head fell back onto the bench's headrest.

"I've told you before Mira, I had a choice. I was always the one behind that trigger. Not someone else. And nothing is changing that." She whimpered at me, my heart feeling like it had fallen apart. "Anyway, don't you have an interview to get to?" she let out a pained sigh as she slipped her arm out from behind me, the weight of her head lifting off my shoulder.

"Yeah. Will, not to sound rude, but you really need to figure this out. Before you start hurting the people you care about." I finally opened my eyes again as she spoke, seeing her already standing. Her brow was furrowed as she stared at me, both of her ears flat on her head. I could tell she was worried about me, and I hated the thought of saying goodbye to her like that. _Can't be helped._

"I'll be fine Mira. Go on, I got the bill." She huffed at me and left, myself letting a small sigh slip out as I watched her go.

* * *

Blake heard the chime for his shop door ring out, sighing before he set the part he was working on down, rolling the cart he was on out from under the car. A voice rang out across the store before he could stand up.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" it was a woman's voice, soft and yet, there was a certain strength to it he couldn't put a name to. Although it was pretty obvious from her tone that she was nervous.

"Be out in a bit!" he shouted that as he stood, grabbing a rag off the car's roof to try and wipe the hydraulic grease off his callused pads. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the stains out of his brown fur. He tossed the rag down onto the cart as he glanced around the small bay, unable to keep a smile off his face. The four car bay wasn't much, and was scattered with tools and even had a lift system to make working on the underside of vehicles easier. On the side wall clear across the bay from him was a long window, showing the small counter and lobby beyond. There was a brown haired woman on the other side, staring at the racks of tires he had on display. He quickly crossed the bay and stepped through the door, which caused her to turn around, revealing her mostly brown and tan fur, Blake easily able to tell she was a hybrid of some variety, Vulpine at the least. Her red flannel shirt had some specks of dust on it, but even so, he thought she was fairly cute. "Welcome to Slate's Auto Works! How can I help you today ma'am." He smiled at her, to which she brightly returned.

"I'm here about a job offer? Has on the job training." He frowned, remembering talking to one Mira Marshall over the phone, a few days ago. although, by that conversation, she shouldn't even be here yet. _She honestly looks like she wouldn't be much help though…_ he was inspecting her as that thought crossed his mind, noticing that, although she wasn't overweight at all, she wasn't twig thin like most women. That said, she also did look like she was in fairly good shape.

"I take it you are Mira Marshall?" she smiled and nodded as he held his hand out to her, the woman not even hesitating to shake his grease covered hands, unlike most people. "Blake Slate. Owner and only employee of Slate's Auto Works. No offense, but you don't look like you'll be that much help in the shop." His words didn't even phase her, her smile brightening actually.

"I used to work on Arwings. I do know my way around tools." He gave her a skeptical look, which did cause her smile to falter a little.

"What kind of work?" he knew Arwings were high end military fighter craft, but a fighter craft was honestly very different from a car.

"General maintenance and combat repairs. Had to rebuild a couple of Arwings, gen twos and threes." She was almost pleading with him, her vibrant blue eyes fixed on him. _Gen two and three? The military doesn't use those, do they? And isn't she a little young to have been in the military?_ "I was Mercenary fighter pilot, so I don't actually have any kind of official training but I promise I learn fast!"

"Alright. Come on in tomorrow, let me see how you do around the shop, then we'll talk." She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he spoke, smiling once more.

"That sounds perfect! I'll see you tomorrow Mister Slate." He rolled his eyes at her as she began to turn away, smirking.

"And don't call me 'Mister'. Just call me Blake." She nodded, walking backwards as she waved to him.

"Alright, Blake. I'm Mira. See ya!" he waved to her and watched as she left, unable to stop his eyes dropping to her rear as she left. _Okay, maybe thinking she was cute was a little inaccurate…_ he slapped himself in the face as he walked back toward the bay, trying to knock his wild imagination off.

"Come on man, remember what happened with Anna…" his memories forced away his thoughts, allowing him to focus back on his work, jumping right back into the project he had been working on.

* * *

Fox glanced at the Map displayed on the windshield of his car, part of an integrated Heads Up Display most cars had, linked with his wrist transmitter's navigation system. By the map, he was right at the address Will had asked him to come to, looking up at the seven story apartment building now beside him. It was in the outskirts of the central city, near the north eastern sector. Corneria City was divided into six sectors on a star shaped man-made islands, over several dozen kilometers across. Each branch of the star was focused around a different purpose, with the central area being a massive downtown district, the Senate building being dead center of the island. The northeastern district was primarily residential, and was where Fox and Krystal's home was located.

The building itself looked well kept, its concrete structure completely devoid of cracks or damage, at least showing the place to be well maintained. He immediately pulled the SUV into the buildings underground parking garage, quickly finding a place to park and shutting the vehicle off. There was a small elevator bank at the back of the near empty garage that Fox headed straight for, summoning the elevator as soon as he was close enough. The ride up to the sixth floor did not take him long, quickly moving down the hall to knock on the door. It wasn't long before the door opened to reveal Will, who waved him in without a word.

"You wanted to chat?" he nodded as Fox spoke and plopped onto the couch, Fox noticing the already open beer bottle beside him, even though it was still morning. Fox dropped beside him, one glance at the human telling Fox that he was deep in thought, clearly trying to phrase what he wanted to say. After several minutes of silence, a small sigh finally slipped out of his mouth, his focus remaining on the floor.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Fox chuckled and rolled his eyes at the human, responding without even a second of hesitation.

"Ask anything you want Will." Will nodded, still seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

"When was the last time you saw your father?" Fox was almost startled by the quiet question, having almost missed it even with his sharp hearing. His mind became an instant battleground, unsure himself as to exactly what to say. It took him a while to finally settle on what he thought was the best answer, kicking backing on the couch and stretching his legs out before speaking.

"The day he died. He made me an honorary Star Fox member, gave me the crest on my jacket. The last thing he said was to take care of myself." Fox saw that Will was about to speak but Fox continued, stopping him. "But that wasn't the last time I spoke to him…" Fox kept his voice quiet, unsure exactly why he was telling Will this, having only ever told Krystal before. "During the final battle of the Lylat Wars, I went after Andross, or as we know now, the clone he left in charge of his main force, alone. After I destroyed him, it sent his underground base into a system meltdown. The way in had been a total maze, and with the explosions and collapsing tunnels, there was no way I was making it out. That's when an Arwing appeared out of a side tunnel, my father telling me to follow him." Will's eye's snapped to him, utterly confused. He again opened his mouth to speak, but Fox was faster. "Yeah, it was him. but it wasn't. I saw him leave the tunnel ahead of me, but when I exited, he was gone. The others never saw another ship leave the tunnel either. Just me. As I was breaking atmo to return home, I heard his voice. He told me to always trust my instincts, and that he was very proud of the man I had become." Will was still staring at him, completely dumbfounded.

"But he died years before the Lylat war, right?" Fox nodded, at his question, very curious as to what caused Will to even bring this subject up.

"I know he did. He wasn't there, but, he was. I can't fully explain it. And that wasn't the last time I heard his voice. In the battle with the Aparoid queen, I hesitated when she spoke to us using Dad's voice. I suddenly got this feeling, like he was there with me, almost like Krystal's telepathy, I heard him tell me to trust my instincts." Fox was shocked when Will didn't respond, just watching him as gears seemed to turn in the man's head. "Why did you ask about that?" Will simply shrugged, taking a long drink from the alcohol beside him before responding.

"Been wanting to ask you for a while. Didn't want to ask over a call." Fox could tell there was a lot more to it than that, but he knew his friend well enough by now to know he wasn't going to explain until he was ready to. "Do you want to stay for a bit? Share a few beers with a fellow soldier?" Fox smiled and nodded, slipping to his feet and heading to the fridge to grab his own beer.

* * *

Krystal glanced up, smiling at the door as the doorbell rang. She had asked Mira to help her with a few last minute details on the wedding after her job interview. Although, to be entirely honest, there was very little left to plan, given that there hadn't really been much to plan in the first place. Most of their friends had few, if any, family, so it was a very small wedding. They were holding it in an open air pavilion in a gorgeous park not far from their home, they already had a caterer, music, almost everything. All she really needed was Mira to help her pick out both of their dresses. Truth of the matter though, was that Krystal wanted to talk to Mira about her time on Earth. Krystal glanced at her wrist computer as she moved to the door, shocked at the time. She had expected Mira's interview to take much longer, and by the time, it had barely been five minutes long. She opened the door and instantly saw Mira smiling on the other side.

"Hey Mira, you're here earlier than I expected." She beckoned Mira inside, stepping away so the younger woman could do so. They both crossed the home to sit on the couch, or more accurately, Krystal gently sat down on one end of the couch as Mira catapulted herself onto the other.

"Interview ended up less of an interview and more of a 'come back tomorrow'. I think I got the job though." Krystal grinned as Mira spoke to her, the younger woman idly played with her hair before getting distracted by a dust bunny on her shirt, immediately plucking it off. Krystal rolled her eyes at the younger woman, who was now almost completely distracted by trying to find more lint. Which she easily found several more bits. Her half-annoyed expression as she glared at the latest piece caused Krystal to laugh at her. "What!?" her half-glare near instantly turned on Krystal.

"You're just being funny is all. Why do you have so many dust bunnies on you in the first place?" Krystal artfully picked one off her sleeve as she spoke, Mira's expression returning to normal.

"I helped Will clean his apartment this morning."

"He couldn't do it himself?" Mira laughed, grabbing the remote off the end table and turning the TV on.

"No, he barely pulled himself out of bed this morning. Lazy bum." Krystal frowned as Mira laughed, able to feel just how worried Mira really was, even if she was trying to hide it.

"That isn't normal for him…" Krystal watched as Mira sighed at Krystal's words, the younger woman's eyes falling away from the screen.

"No, it isn't. he doesn't sleep. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up in the middle of the night to find him thrashing about or just staring off into space."

"I wish I knew how to help him…" Mira sighed and nodded, silently agreeing with Krystal. "At least you two's relationship has gotten stronger!" Mira shrugged, playing with another piece of lint as she responded.

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh come on Mira, you guys didn't have a, I quote, 'sex life' two months ago." Mira almost instantly shriveled up, visibly blushing as her ears went flat against her head.

"It was one time! And I barely even remember it!" Krystal laughed at the younger woman's reaction, only making her shrivel up even more.

"Oh?! Do tell!" Krystal shifted so she was facing Mira on the couch, sitting on her feet while Mira groaned and covered her face.

"Ugh, fine! We were both totally hammered, I remember getting back to the hotel room, kissing him, and waking up in the bed covered in more bodily fluids then I care to admit! Okay!?" Mira's voice seemed to increase several octaves, more squeaking that out than anything else.

"Really?" Mira finally uncovered her face and nodded, her expression starting to turn sad.

"It was right after his dad's memorial ceremony actually… I guess he just really needed some form of comfort. Plus, I've never seen him that drunk before." Krystal suddenly leapt off the couch, quickly pulling Mira after her.

"Well, let's go look at dresses, that was why I invited you over after all!" Mira smiled and followed Krystal out the door, the two of them setting off toward a nearby shopping mall on foot.

* * *

Oikonny watched as the human before him slowly stirred awake. His dark hair and sharp angular features might once have been considered handsome by other members of his race, but half his face had been burned away in an explosion, as well as his entire right arm. The man suddenly bolted upright, both of his piercing green eyes ripping open with a look of total fury on his face.

"Slow down. You barely even survived. It's a good thing I was there to find you." Oikonny glanced at the matte black lupine beside him as the man spoke. The human seemed to be panting slightly, raising the metallic armored arm that had been grafted to his body, flexing the fingers several times before he spoke, his voice cruel and dark.

"I assume you didn't save me without a plan, _Andrew_." The man heavily stressed the ape's name, something about it putting a sour taste in the ape's mouth.

"Of course, McDonnell."


	3. Veterans Welcome

**I'm sorry about how long it's been taking me to get this up, this story has been difficult for me to write, more because i have no idea how to reach where i am taking it. anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, and let me know what yall are thinking!**

* * *

Fox groaned as he shifted position, his head feeling like it was trying to murder him. At the moment, he had no idea exactly where he was, just that it was mildly comfortable and that he had absolutely no desire to move. A scratching metallic noise started to pierce through his subconscious, puzzling him, since he couldn't place the origin of that sound. _Almost sounds like a key in a lock, but me and krys's bedroom doesn't have that…._ Almost as if on que with that thought finishing, he felt a hand slap his gut with enough force to startle him completely awake, a female voice in his ears.

"Come on Fox, wake up! Krystal's been looking for you." he slowly sat up, trying to open his eyes slowly, even the dim light in the room feeling like knives being rammed into his skull. Several things clinked to the floor as he sat up, glancing down to see at least a few dozen beer bottles and cans scattered across the floor, as well as a pair of small beat up combat boots connecting to someone's legs, who happened to be wearing baggy cargo pants. His eyes followed the line of her body, seeing she was wearing a blue button up shirt, the top few buttons undone and showing the white tank top beneath, her face unmistakable as anyone but Mira.

"Well hey Mira, what brings you around at this hour?" she chuckled, shaking her head at him.

"First off, it's nearly eight in the morning, secondly, do you even remember where you are right now?" Fox struggled to pierce the fog still shrouding his mind, barely even able to recall much more than a few old faces and names. His eyes naturally danced to his right and left, realizing that his surroundings were not his own home. Memories slowly started to drift back to him as he noticed the controllers lying on the floor in front of the couch, mentally groaning to himself as he let his eyes shut and slumped back against the couch.

"Great. I think I'm just going to stay here for a while. Tell Krys I'm fine." She chuckled at him, Fox hearing her start to pick up the mass of empty bottles and cans.

"You can do that yourself. I gotta make sure Will hasn't gone and hurt himself again." Fox's eyes cracked open at that, one of his eyebrows raised. By her tone, she sounded almost sad, not joking as he was expecting from her.

"Again?" she dropped the cans in her hands into the trash as she sighed, leaning on the kitchen counter. Or at least, that was what Fox guessed she was doing, given he could only see her head and shoulders.

"Yeah… this isn't the first time I've found him totally wasted like this. last time, he almost put himself in the hospital." Fox grimaced, the tone of her voice speaking to how worried she was about him, and how much she cared. Part of himself started to feel bad for encouraging Will's drinking this time, another part finding a newfound respect for Mira. _The amount she has put up with for him… she really loves him doesn't she?_

"I'm sorry Mira." She glanced at him as he spoke, clearly confused. "I shouldn't have been here last night." He was shocked when she smiled, stepping back out of the kitchen.

"No, it's good you were with him. you couldn't have watched his back otherwise, and quite frankly, you probably kept him out of trouble. Thanks Fox." He smiled to her, looking around the room for his comms device, not entirely sure where he left it. "Actually, he's been scaring me a lot lately…." Mira's quiet words caused Fox to stop what he was doing to look at her. he could tell she was on the verge of tears.

"What do you mean?" she sighed, wiping the traces of moister forming around her eyes away before stepping back into the living room, dropping onto the couch beside Fox.

"He drinks almost every day, and he doesn't seem to care what happens to him anymore. The other day, he laid his bike down and was sent almost twenty meters across pavement. Thank whatever deity that made sure that the street was empty at the time, otherwise he would have been killed. As it was, he just got bruised up and had to leave his bike in the shop till just before we left. He just…. Hasn't been the same since we got him back. I'm not even sure if I know him anymore." Fox remained quiet as he listened to her, his heart starting to sink.

"He'll be alright Mira. He went through something none of us can relate to. It's going to take him a while to work through it. and he has you. he'll be fine." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, trying to reassure the young woman, but if anything, she seemed even more depressed than she had before.

"I don't know if I can keep this up Fox…." He let out a small sigh, standing and stretching, despite most of his muscles protesting the movement.

"Just hang in there Mira. And if you ever need to talk to someone, you got Krys and I, okay?" she nodded as he spotted his wrist computer on the table, quickly moving to retrieve it. "I think I'm just gonna head home actually. mind checking on Will for me?"

"Hmph, really think I wouldn't" he smiled to her and shook his head, waving goodbye to her before leaving the apartment.

* * *

I shambled out of my room, the smell of eggs and fresh coffee flooding the entire apartment. I couldn't help but smile at Mira's form in the kitchen, knowing the only thing she was really any good at cooking was breakfast foods, and grateful all the same she had come. _I really don't deserve how amazing she is…_

"Good morning Mira. You don't have to do that you know." She jumped at the sound of my voice, myself not realizing how quietly I had left the room.

"oh, hey, good morning Will. And I know. I just like too. it's nice to start my day with you." she barely looked back at me as she spoke, myself dropping into one of the dining room chairs. "How ya feeling this morning?" I shrugged not entirely sure how to respond to her, and not having much desire to be totally honest either.

"Just a little head ache, I'm fine though, good to go." I tried to put on a good show as my head felt like someone was trying to cleave it apart with a blunt axe. She chuckled, stepping out of the kitchen with a steaming mug in her hand.

"Nice try Will, I can tell you have a killer headache. Here." She set the cup of coffee on the table beside me as she spoke, just before glancing at the bags still next to the couch. "Still not unpacked yet?" I just grumbled at her, making her chuckle. "Alright, I guess we'll do it together after I get off today." I groaned at her this time as she made her way back into the kitchen

"Don't worry about it, I got it. need to clean the blasters anyway." I didn't pay attention to her response, shambling over to the bag to start the rigorous job of cleaning weapons. Although it wasn't a direct necessity, but keeping a weapon clean and ready function at it's peak had been made almost second nature by my time in the military. Without a second thought, I unzipped the green duffel bag, grabbing both of the holsters inside and the cleaning kit. As soon as I had them, I returned to the table, quickly laying out a mat from the kit to set parts on before yanking my blaster from it's holster. The simple design allowed for it to be stripped down quickly, a simple wipe down being all the chrome lined pieces needed. Aside from that, all of the components were fine, so I quickly reassembled it, barely even looking at the weapon as I did so. Almost as soon as I had set it down, I was grabbing Mira's Cornerian blaster. It took me a moment to realize my hand was quivering as I grabbed the holster, unclipping it and slowly pulling the weapon out. Although there were dozens of kinds of blasters, Mira's was a common military model, mass produced by an arms company called Ashland's Armaments, the same model Star Fox issued to all of it's pilots due to it's balance of range, power, and accuracy, as well as the built in light and laser assembly. Although it was bulky by most Cornerian standards, as far as a military weapon went, it was a great back up. As I held it, glancing at the sights, I couldn't help the memories flooding through my mind, the few I could remember from my time in captivity. One in particular being the focus.

 _"I thought you might like to kill her yourself, considering what she has done." I watched the hope flare to life in Fara's eye's the instant she recognized me. But I didn't care. Even with the knowledge that she carried Wolf's child, something I had overheard her talking to Katt about, even with how long she had been my friend._

 _"With pleasure." I had unholstered the blaster as I spoke, the same model Mira carried. I had quickly moved closer to her, eager to kill her, to watch as she slowly died. She had seemed to see that intent, somewhere in me, that hope I had seen in her eyes disappearing._

 _"Wh-what are you doing!?" her voice was terrified. "Will! It's me, Fara! Don't you remember me?" at this point, she could have said anything, and it still would not have changed the outcome. I remembered hesitating, but there was no way I could ever remember why. I couldn't remember what precisely was said, but I remembered Andross shouting something at me._

 _"Just gimme a second. I want to savor this." I could remember saying that, seeing how battered and broken she was. And still didn't stop me from firing the trio of shots into her. I could still remember that moment, as I was standing over her watching her die, the pure agony on her muzzle, and nothing I could do about it._

The blaster clattered to the table as bile violently rose in my throat, so quickly that I almost didn't make it to the toilet before it erupted from my mouth.

"Will!?" I could hear Mira's startled shout from the other room as I retched again, my stomach already empty. I barely felt her wrap an arm over my shoulders as I heaved yet again. "You Okay? This kinda came out of nowhere." I tried to smile to her, wiping bile away from my mouth.

"I'm fine, just too many drinks last night. Really." I gently shrugged her off, waiting by the toilet for a minute or so longer to make sure I was done puking. I didn't notice the look she gave me, or her grabbing the blaster off the table. When I came out, she was wearing it on her thigh, confusing me. _Does she know?_ "I was going to clean that ya know."

"It's mine, so I should be the one to clean it. besides, you need to sober up. Go take a shower Will. Might help ya feel better." I looked at her and groaned, stepping back into my room and into my personal bathroom, quickly stripping out of the clothes I was in and climbing into the shower. The almost scalding hot water felt utterly amazing, myself simply standing under it for a lot longer than I really should have. I sighed as I stepped out of the shower, quickly toweling off and getting dressed, only to find my apartment empty again. Mira had left a plate of food on the table beside the mug of coffee, as well as a note apologizing for having to leave for work. I couldn't help the small sigh that slipped out as I sat at the table and began to eat.

* * *

Blake glanced up as his door chimed again, seeing the girl from the day before step inside. Only now, she was wearing a blaster on her thigh.

"Hey Mira right?" he waved to her as she stepped into the bay, moving over to the other vehicle currently there.

"That's right. Good morning Mr. Slate." He rolled his eyes at her as she spoke, him not having to tell her to meet him there.

"I told you, just call me Blake. Anyway, I got a test for you. I got this junker from a junk yard a few months ago, never had time to work on it. I want you to see if you can figure out what's wrong with it's drive system. And yes, I know the engine is totally boned, so don't tell me that. If ya find something, I'll be over here, working." She nodded, Blake leaving her to her work, returning to working on a customer's brake system. As far as he could tell, there was something wrong with the brake lines themselves, but he couldn't find the problem, having purged the lines several times. He was just about to start pulling parts off when he heard an engine whine to life, shocked as he set his tool down. in the few short minutes since he left her alone, she had somehow jury-rigged its power system together and fired it up, him watching in shock as she was already tracing a powerline down the underside of the vehicle.

"This is a pretty simple fix. The powerline to the mag drive is severed." He was staring at her in shock.

"How did you even get the engine running? It's missing half the system!" she raised an eyebrow at him before chuckling.

"I just bypassed most of the safety systems. Most fighter craft don't have them because of the amount of space they need. You'll still need parts to make it street legal, but at least the engine will run." He stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, watching as she quickly puzzled out how to strip the damaged power cable, after shutting the engine down of course, easily removing it as well as several other inoperative pieces. He didn't realize he had been staring at her for several minutes now, her stopping at smirking at him. "I'm not single so you can stop staring you know." He quickly shook his head, unable to not smile at her.

"Damn, you know your way around machines don't you. well, consider yourself hired. We'll do the paperwork tomorrow, for now, just head home." She nodded, smiling to him.

"Alright. And a friend of mine is getting married in a couple weeks. It's not going to be a problem, will it?" he instantly shook his head, returning her smile.

"Not at all, just let me know the dates. Have a good one!" she nodded and waved goodbye before leaving the shop, leaving him to his work.

* * *

The streets were surprisingly quiet as Mira made her way back toward Will's apartment, just hoping he was still there. Granted, she had barely spent more than thirty minutes at the mechanics shop, but she had learned he liked to disappear without saying a word to anyone. She let her eyes wander as she walked, finding herself assessing the area as if it was a battlefield, spotting good spots to set up automatic weapons as well as fighting positions, even to the point that she actually debating where the most likely spots for enemy positions were and how to assault them. she tried to shake it from her mind, having done the same thing dozens of times ever since Will started teaching them ground combat, over a year ago now. having relied on that instruction so much over the past year, she found it hard to go away from it. a small sigh slipped out of her, unable to help but wonder just how much she had changed, and whether or not those changes were at all good or not. That's when her eye's fell on a hand drawn sign, a simple arrow pointing at a door, a large 'veterans welcome' written on it. curious, she slipped into the doorway, finding a short hallway with several doors, another smaller sign pointing toward one of the doors. She quickly slipped inside, finding a small room with seven slightly startled occupants, all in chairs set in a rough circle around each other. Four canines, three male, one female, two vulpines, both male, and one small female feline. One of the canines instantly stood, smiling to her.

"Hello, welcome, I assume you're here because of the sign?" she nodded, not really knowing what to say. "So you must be a veteran as well, come on in miss, pull up a chair, if you're not busy that is." She shook her head as he approached, his hand held out to her. "I'm Harry. Harry Klein. Psychologist, therapist, and occasional air race enthusiast."

"Mira Marshall. It's nice to meet you." he nodded, gesturing to his own chair as he rushed to the side of the room, claiming a crappy folding chair for himself. She almost didn't accept the comfy chair he had vacated, noticing that all the other people there had similar comfortable arm chairs. "What is this place?" he smiled as he settled into the chair, his smile surprisingly warm and friendly.

"That is a surprisingly long story. To be frank, I picked up a…. difficult patient, and this was my solution." One of the male canines grunted and looked away, something about him being oddly familiar. "I noticed that veterans of war's tend to stick together, to support each other, so I'd like to help as many of the veterans from this war as I can. So, come stay a while miss?" she nodded, very curious as to how this was going to go. "So, Karin, you were saying?" the female feline gulped, clearly uncomfortable.

"Well…. I was a medic. I was discharged after surviving the offensive on Katina….. i…." her eye's closed for a second, Mira's ears flattening. She knew how bad the battle for Katina had been, for both sides. "we were trying to care for the wounded, just after the first push on planet. i… I can't…" her eyes closed again, Mira knowing what she was thinking of. Russian forces had been the primary for the Katina occupation, and there were still several divisions of Russian troops attacking the local populations and continuing the war. But, now, several UEC remnant units were on Katina as well, attempting to remove the Russian presence. Primarily American forces, as Mira had learned while on earth. Russian forces were well known for their extensive use of high end kinetic rifles, explosive powder weapons with magnetic accelerators to cast the rounds out to insane velocity's. the rounds were also designed to squash and flatten on impact, rapidly slowing the rounds on impact, increasing their effect on their targets. They rarely left casualties, and those that survived were maimed, losing limbs or entire chunks of their bodies. She had seen the results first hand, and still had nightmares of it herself. "Every night, I see their faces. All of them. every single body…. And the night they attacked…" Mira wanted nothing more than to stop her right there, but one of the vulpines was way ahead of her, slipping from his chair and gently setting his hand on her shoulder.

"That was more than you've ever shared with us Karin. We all know how heavy of a burden you carry, but you are never alone. Just try to think of that. Okay?" the vulpine who had moved was speaking to her, the woman managing to calm down as he continued. "You don't have to say anymore today." She nodded, clearly having trouble, but able to compose herself again.

"I'm okay George. Anyway… I lost most of my unit that night. It's why I was discharged." Mira knew about several similar stories, including two that had eventually been killed, just feet from her. she lost track of time as the group talked. Not always serious, sometimes just sharing good stories between themselves. Mira didn't say a word the whole time, just silently listening.

"Mira, why don't you say something. You don't have to be so silent here. You are all fellow soldiers." Harry was the one speaking now, having not actually said a word, simply taking notes the whole time, the Vulpine, George, actually driving the conversation.

"I… I don't know what to say…." She really didn't, trying to think of her options. She could share any of her harrowing experiences, from nearly being eaten by a red eye, her own experiences on Katina, fighting the Aparoids on the venom cruiser, there was enough that she had no idea exactly where to start.

"Just introduce yourself." She nodded at his gentle suggestion, not really wanting to look at any of them.

"Well, I'm not exactly a soldier… I was a mercenary…" the other vulpine instantly spoke up.

"Shit girl, that aint a problem here. You fought right?" she nodded, and he smiled to her. "So that don't matter for shit. No go on, say whatever you got in that noggin." She smirked at his surprisingly joking and somewhat vulgar personality, despite the story he had told just minutes ago about carrying his dead friend back to an aid station, the man's head under his arm.

"Okay. Well, as I said, I was a mercenary, both pilot and commando, so I fought in the air and on the ground. Well, fairly early into the war, I was shot down and captured…" she froze mid sentence, shocked that she had even started to tell them about that. _Why would I even start saying that, I can barely talk about it with Will…._

"It's okay, go on Mira." She was shocked when Karin spoke, having noticed that she had the hardest time speaking out of all of them.

"I… yeah…. okay…." She took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. "One of the humans… he… I was tortured while my friend was forced to watch and raped…." The entire group was silent for a minute, the canine she thought she knew spoke up, not yet having caught his name.

"Those human bastards. We really need to make them pay." All of the other's shoulder's slumped, Harry straight up frowned.

"Brady, we've been over this, we can not hate a group because of individuals." Brady just grunted, his arms remaining crossed at George's words.

"Well, I hate to do this, but time's up for today. I'll see all of you in three weeks, right? Most of them cheerily nodded, save brady, who simply grumbled at them. "And it would be nice to see you here again, Miss Marshall. That was quite something to have shared on a first day here." She smiled back at the canine, an idea suddenly cropping up in her head.

"Um, this next meeting you spoke of, can I bring a… friend? He's…. well, he's human." Most of the others were no longer paying attention, only the feline, Karin, listening in.

"That would be fine. there may be some friction, but I think it will do a lot of good to see the other side of this war." She grimaced before responding to him.

"Well, Will didn't fight with the UEC. He was my wingman actually." he nodded, not fazed at all.

"Still would be interesting. I'd love to make his acquaintance." Mira smiled to him, waving good bye to him and the feline before heading out the door, headed for Will's apartment.


	4. The Wedding

**Holy mother of all thing's fluffy this chapter was a total bitch to write. Special shout out to Sheppard for helpping me get this SEVERELY delayed chapter out! i meant to have it done before christmas! Particularly because there is a joke in it that pertains to the Christmas one shot i posted, which if you have not checked out, do so! i loved writing it so i hope yall love readin it! anyway, i apologize for the wait, and please, drop some reviews. not to sound like an ass, but these reviews just sayin 'This is good' 'best story i've read', don't tell me jack fucking shit! and quite frankly, kinda tick me off! comeon guys, talk about _Why_ it's good! give me reasons, specifics, what's your favorite part, who's your favorite character so far, was the tech and such cool, was the dogfight or fight scene awesome! i need feed back to continue to bring yall better and better things! so please, help me out, gimme some details! hell, tear something i did shittily apart, please!**

* * *

My eye's slowly flitted open, finding the other half of my bed already empty. Mira had been spending most nights here in my apartment over the past week and a half, and had spent the last night here as well. As I slowly started to really wake up, I realized that there was music playing in the main room, and the smell of food cooking. _Damn it… I really need to stop letting her cook breakfast every morning._ I sighed as I slipped from the bed, quickly showering and changing before stepping out into the main room, only to be nearly blasted down by the incredibly loud song being played. Despite the high volume, I could easily hear her voice singing along with the human song, completely oblivious to who might be listening. Not that someone listening should have been much of a problem, for she had a gorgeous voice. Of course, she completely disagreed everytime I told her that. I smirked as I slipped across the living room, the loud music masking any sound I might have made as I got behind her. I rolled my eyes as she danced in between shuffling the eggs. I waited for a pause in her cooking before suddenly grabbing her around the waist, pulling her up and away from the counter and into a tight embrace, to which she promptly screeched about. Or, at least until she realized it was just me. Then her screech was replaced with a little giggle, and her smacking my arm playfully with her free hand.

"Seriously Will, you scared the crap out of me!"

I just smiled before gently kissing the soft fur on the side of her muzzle before setting her down and releasing her. "That's what you get for not waking me up this morning. Again."

She chuckled and shook her head, her focus remaining on finishing the food she was cooking. "Child."

I leaned up against the counter adjacent the stove, smirking at her sarcastic taunt. "Kit." I stuck my tongue out at her, earning another eye roll as she shut the burners off, sliding the abnormally large amount of eggs onto a plate next to an equally large plate of bacon and pancakes. But I didn't get a chance to ask about that, because she grabbed my hand and dragged me from the kitchen and into the relatively clear space in the dining room, using her wrist computer to operate the music player.

"Sing with me?" I stared at her for a second, utterly bewildered. "Come on, it'll be fun!" I groaned as she continued to scroll through our music, still trying to find a song she wanted.

"Mira, you don't want me to sing. I kill crows twenty clicks away. I've told you this before." She just chuckled as she finally selected a song, a simple percussion rhythm starting it off.

"Oh, I'm the same way and you know it!" almost on cue with her saying that, the words started, and I got left with no choice. _"The club isn't the best place to find a lover, so the bar is where I go!"_ she was already singing so I decided to say 'fuck it', and joined her. _"Me and my friends at the table doing shots, drinking fast and then we talk slow, come over and start up a conversation with just me, and trust me I'll give it a chance now, take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox and then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like."_ I had no doubt that our voices overlapping with the male singer in the song likely sounded horrible, but with in the first few words, we both stopped caring.

 _"Girl, you know I want your love, your love was handmade for somebody like me_." At this point the two of us had started dancing with each other. _"Come on now, follow my lead, I may be crazy, don't mind me, say, boy, let's not talk too much, grab on my waist and put that body on me, come on now, follow my lead, come, come on now, follow my lead."_ By now, the world could've been ending at that moment, and neither of us would have noticed. By the time the song ended, the two of us were both completely out of breath, just flopping onto the couch. We were instantly cuddled together, my arms wrapped around her abdomen.

"Alright, I gotta ask, why the extra food?"

She just grinned and snuggled in closer, if that was even possible. "You'll see Will." I playfully growled at her statement, earning a giggle from her for it. "It's a surprise!" I rolled my eye's at her, but content with her answer. For now at least. I was just happy to be holding her like this, feeling the soft fur of her body, a softness human skin could never compete with. Even with that bliss, I couldn't help but feel afraid, if only just. No matter how much I loved being like this with her, I was still terrified I was going to hurt her. But that moment of bliss was suddenly cut completely off as I heard a knock at the door, Mira catapulting herself off the couch in an instant. I shot up after her, playfully giving her tail a gentle tug. Not enough to be painful, mind you, but enough to stop her in her tracks. She let out a startled yelp anyway.

"And who says you are allowed to answer the door?" she was glaring at me as I spoke, myself standing and stretching.

"I do!" she stuck her tongue out at me as she playfully walked away, intentionally swaying her hips back and forth along with her tail. I rolled my eyes as I followed her, seeing as she opened the door, and shocked at who I saw on the other side.

"Well I'll be damned, didn't expect to see you here today Wolf!" the massive Grey lupine smiled as I spoke, stepping past Mira with out even glancing at her. A cinnamon brown Canine followed him, but unlike him, was instantly greeting Mira. Not that I really payed attention to that, already grabbing Wolf's hand and getting pulled into a sort of half hug, to which his massive size swamped my own. I was not a small person mind you, but the six foot three lupine was built like a freight train with one cybernetic eye hidden behind a glass plate, one dark grey natural eye. His almost black grey and lighter grey fur always looked wild and unkempt, no matter how much he bathed and took care of it.

"Hey Will. I was expecting your place to be a lot cooler than Fox's. and more fun. Kinda seems the same though, and I imagined a lot more guns." Wolf spoke as he looked around the apartment, almost instantly dropping onto the couch, to which Mira instantly protested.

"You are not seriously going to try and eat breakfast on the couch are you?" Wolf just laughed at her complaint as she moved into the kitchen, likely grabbing the plates of food. The canine was helping her so I was content with just leaning on the back of the couch.

"Damn right I am! It's a comfy couch!" I chuckled and rolled my eyes at Wolf's retort, just walking over to the already set table and slipping into a seat. Mean while, the Canine set the plate she had down, marching herself over to the couch to glare at Wolf, hands on her hips.

"Come on you lazy oaf, food's on the table." I have no idea exactly what Wolf did, but it made the canine roll her eyes at him, reaching down and forcibly pulling him from the couch. Not that he seemed to really be fighting her in that regard.

"Oh, come on Sheila! I don't wanna leave the couch!" I couldn't help but chuckle at Wolf's antics, just happy to see him back to his more sarcastic self, something I hadn't seen since before I had been captured. I quickly served Mira a helping of food before grabbing my own plate, just as Wolf and Sheila sat down, all of us quickly digging in

* * *

I couldn't help but smile as I walked along the sidewalk, Mira's hand tightly with in my own. The day had seemed to simply fly by as Wolf, Sheila, Mira and I had spent it wandering the city, pretty much going anywhere that caught our eyes, laughing, joking and swapping as many stories as we could. Wolf had heard most of mine already, but the Canine, Sheila, hadn't. so myself and Mira had been sharing from our adventures in the Star Fox team for her, as well as a few I hadn't heard before, such as Mira's time on the Lincoln. Of course, we had mostly focused on the good things to happen, not the bad, so it had made for a very pleasant and entertaining experience. Especially hearing about Vince's freak outs while riding in a fighter craft. Having met and spoken to Vince Stazac on several occasions, it didn't surprise me that would freak out in a dog fight, but hearing Mira describe it had been an experience all of it's own.

"So where to next?" Sheila's incredibly bouncy voice shattered the small silence that had fallen across the group, drawing my eye's to her. even I had to admit, she was a stunning sight to behold, tall, lean, and curved in all the right places. most of her fur was a rich cinnamon brown, clashing with her vibrant white chest and neck fur, but in a way that was not at all harsh to the eyes. And although I would say Mira's relatively short fur was silky and smooth, Sheila's longer fur frankly looked divine even compared to Mira's. her pale blue eyes seemed to match the sky today, but her entire appearance was nothing compared to her almost explosion of sandy brown hair, long enough to fall all the way down to her waist. Luckily for Mira, I had never really cared about appearance's, because aside from Krystal, she was likely the most gorgeous lylatian I had yet to see.

"I was thinking milkshakes sound great." Of course, that particular thought had come to mind as I spotted a diner I used to love going to ahead of us, it being well known as a human style establishment.

"Down! Completely" Mira almost instantly said that, having had her first milkshake just over a month ago. and she absolutely loved them.

"Sure, why not?" Sheila's bouncy voice almost immediately followed Mira's, leaving Wolf to just grumble whatever his thoughts were on the decision. Whatever he grumbled out, had been totally lost on the rest of us. not that what he said would have made a difference as I moved straight for the diner, the other's following along. Upon entering, the four of us managed to claim a window booth, myself and Mira on one side, while Sheila sat directly across from me, Wolf almost perched on the edge of the bench. Of course, he still wasn't used to being able to move around so freely in public, the full pardon he had received being just a few weeks old. We ordered almost as soon as we were sitting down, Wolf and I both ordering chocolate shakes, Sheila a vanilla, Mira a strawberry. And it took little time at all for the staff to produce said drinks, even despite the busy crowd.

"So how did you guys know to be dating each other? I'm really curious, given the whole, well, _stellar_ difference between you." I hadn't even been able to take even a sip of my shake before Sheila had spoken, but one glance at Mira said she wasn't going to answer, too busy sucking up her shake through it's straw. I was debating exactly what to say, still watching her thoroughly enjoy her milkshake when an idea hit my mind, instantly smiling to Sheila.

"Well, kinda like a good milkshake, actually. So a shake really has three major components, kinda like a relationship. The cherry, Whipped cream, and the shake itself. Now all you really want, is the shake itself, right? So the whipped cream and cherry are really just a bonus, if you know what I'm saying? For example, Mira here, to me." She glanced up at me as I mentioned her name, rolling her eyes. Knowing her, she had likely already completely figured out the analogy I had created. "Is like a rich chocolate milkshake, perfectly mixed, not too cold and solid, not too warm and runny, with a little bit of a zest that you can't quite put your tongue on. Coupled with a fair amount of very nice and fluffy whipped cream, and one of the only shakes I'd deem worthy of having a cherry. I'd lean toward a pair fresh cherries, although candied are spectacular as well. Of course, there are always the people who only go for the cherries and whipped cream, if ya get what I'm saying. Some still who only want the cherry." Sheila had seemed moderately confused for most of my short little speech I gave, one ear canted to the side. Wolf on the other hand, look absolutely dumbfounded, the entire analogy likely going right over his head.

"I don't get it…" Mira sighed and rolled her eyes at Wolf's statement, opening her mouth to speak as she drew my attention. But what I heard startled me.

"I think I do. I'll explain, Will, tell me if I'm wrong." My eye's snapped back to Sheila as she spoke, noticing Mira's small shrug and return to enjoying her own milkshake. Sheila was almost greedily eyeing Wolf's shake, scooting closer to him. "So the cherries." She stopped her voice for a moment, suddenly swooping down and licking the candied cherries clean off Wolf's shake, taking a chunk of whipped cream with it, and absolutely shocking Wolf. Of course, he didn't get the chance to protest it either. "Is the sex. Succulent, sweet, and oh so good, but really, in the end, it's just the bonus to a relationship." Wolf's brain very clearly hit a brick wall as Mira beside me coughed several times, trying to hide her giggling. "So that makes the whipped cream their physique. Ya know, the tits, the ass, the abs…." Sheila glanced pointily at Wolf's chest as she continued, not that Wolf noticed. His brain was still reeling from the 'Cherry is sex, Sheila just ate my cherry' part. "The _pecs_ , you know, all of that physical good stuff." She quickly licked all of the whipped cream clean from his shake, taking a small amount of the shake with it. "But in the end, that's just a bonus too. what really matters is who the person is, whether you can love them or not, whether you trust them or not, and everything they do." As she said that, she took yet another enormous lick, taking a good quarter of the glass from Wolf's shake, Wolf's eyes having only increased in size over the past few minutes.

"Th-That-That's my shake though?" he sounded utterly confused and offended as he managed to respond, Sheila just chuckling and sliding his shake out from in front of him, stabbing a straw into it and beginning to drink it.

"That **_was_** your shake Wolf, now it's mine!" Wolf stared at her for several seconds before a flicker of understanding seemed to dart across his face, before he suddenly reached past Sheila to take her shake, which she tried to stop and epically failed.

"What? You stole my shake. Only fair I steal yours." He stuck his tongue out at her, just before using it to make the whipped cream, cherry and a fair amount of the shake disappear in an instant. After doing so, he glanced up at me, a small smirk flashing across his face, alongside a wink, just before he began sipping at the shake.

"You know Will, I never thought you, of all people, would try and romanticize a milkshake." I smiled at Mira as she spoke, seeing her return smile that almost instantly melted me into a puddle on the spot.

"Well, _I'm_ not surprised you were the first to figure out what I meant. Unlike those two dim witted nimrods." I jerked my thumb at Wolf and Sheila, both of which were glaring daggers at me.

"Oh give them some credit, they still figured it out, and that's without knowing you like I do." I rolled my eyes at Mira, quickly giving her a small peck on her cheek, only to cover for my arms wrapping around to one of her many ticklish spots. She was instantly squirming and shrieking the second I found them, unable to protect herself from the onslaught of giggles she was now in. when I finally stopped, I pulled her into a hug, burying my face in the soft fur of her neck, and hearing Wolf and Sheila chuckling at the two of us.

* * *

Fox kneaded his hands together over and over and over again as he paced back and forth in the living room of his home. _Finally, it's the day! I….. this is….just exciting! And more than nerve racking!_ Fox couldn't help as his thoughts seemed to loop a similar statement in his head over and over, constantly fiddling with every small thing on his suit to try and make it absolutely perfect.

"Fox, Stop. You're fine. if you keep fiddling with your suit, it's gonna fall off. Just breath." Fox glanced up at a surprisingly grinning Will as the human spoke, seeing his subtle eye roll he gave Fox. He was sitting on the couch in Fox's living room, leaning back into the soft cushions in his own plainer suit

"Oh come on Will! I'd like to see you stay perfectly calm when you finally marry Mira!" Will seemed to completely freeze as Fox said that. It took almost a full minute for him to be responding, Fox able to just imagine wheels grinding in the younger mans head.

"You think I should marry Mira?" he seemed shocked as he spoke, Fox finally managing to stop pacing and fretting.

"Should? I think it's a question of when Will. Look at what you two have gone through together, the fact that you are still going is a testament to how much you both care about each other." Fox was shocked to see will's brow furrow for a moment as he closed his eye's.

"I…. Don't know Fox. I nearly killed her, well more than once. And once is more than I ever should have…" Will's eyes dropped to the carpet at his feet, Fox unable to stop his ear's from going flat. He'd seen Will like this a lot lately, and quite frankly, Fox hated it.

"Will. Stop. Look, I know everything you two have been through together, it's been nearly nine months since you started dating, and well over a year since you met. Despite everything, you two are _still_ a very playful couple. When you're around, Mira isn't shy and unsure of herself. And you stop being a fucking combat machine! I don't know about you, but to me, that speaks volumes. Do you know what I love the most about Krystal?" Will looked up as Fox asked his question, Fox not giving him a chance to speak. "She brings out the absolute best in me. Yeah, she brings out the worst at times too. but that's why I love her so much. Around her, I have absolutely no fear of being me. Not the Fox McCloud the universe knows, not the Fox McCloud my friends know. Who I really am. I'm not afraid to break down crying in front of her, I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind. And I know she feels the same way."

"Fox…. I….. I'm terrified when I'm around her…." Will's eyes closed again, his head dropping into his hands. Fox couldn't help the way his heart sank. Out of all the things he himself had been through, he couldn't imagine being terrified to be near the woman he loved. "No matter how hard I try, I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to severely hurt her one of these days. I don't ever want to do that again….."

"Will, I can't say I've been in your position before. I'm not sure if anyone has. But I don't think the solution is for you to shove her away. if anything, I'd say try to get closer to her. Face that fear, be defiant of it. and never let it control you. otherwise, you will hurt her." Fox sat down beside Will as he spoke, waiting very patiently for him to respond. Will let out a shuddering sigh before he sat up, looking fox straight in the eye. Fox couldn't help but smirk at the suddenly determined look his grey eyes held, one he had already seen on countless occasions and knew like the back of his hand.

"Okay Fox." Fox smiled and clapped his shoulder at his simple response. Fox's eyes bounced up to the clock on the wall and he started to panic.

"Shit, we're gonna be late!" Will glanced up at the clock as Fox spoke, his own eyes going wide before the pair leapt to their feet, Fox having to run back to the couch and grab his cane before they rushed out the door. Will immediately dropped into the drivers seat of Fox's SUV, Fox taking the passenger as Will backed out of the driveway. With in minutes, they were well on their way to the venue for the wedding, neither having said a word to each other.

"Fox…. It may be rushing but… I want to marry Mira. If only to let her know that I'm not giving up on her. do you have my back on that?" Will was very quiet as he spoke, his eyes never leaving the road. Fox smiled, every bit of his stone like appearance in this moment telling Fox just how serious the man was.

"Of course Will. I know a few good jewelry stores too, if ya need one." Will smiled at Fox's words, one of his very rare genuine smiles. Something Fox couldn't help but grin at.

"Good! And don't tell her, please, I want to surprise her!"

"Never Will."

* * *

Mira smiled as Krystal made a final adjustment to her hair, tucking some rouge strands back behind her ear. _Wow, she looks gorgeous right now!_ The fur on Krystals muzzle started to stand up slightly as her tail flicked several times behind her.

"Thanks Mira." Krystal smiled at Mira as she spoke, Mira taking in the older woman's outfit again. It was a brilliant white sleeveless gown with gold trim and intricately embroidered gold flower like designs throughout the fabric. The silky material clung closely to her body, leaving her entire back exposed in much the same way a dress of Mira's did, forming a sharp vee, hidden under the base of Krystal's tail. the dress fell all the way down to her ankles, showing off the similarly styled low heels she was wearing. the sides of the dress were split all the way up to her thighs, almost showing more than what would have been decent. the shoulders wrapped around her arms and back down to the sides of the dress, a single silky string crossing her shoulder blades to keep it in place, hidden by her hair. Added to this was all of her old jewelry, from the gem embedded tiara to her tail rings, neither of which did she wear very often anymore. Mira herself was wearing the dress Krystal had bought for her nearly nine months before, the simple silver dress seeming almost bland next to Krystal. But that didn't bother Mira one bit, this was Krystal's day after all.

"Krystal, can I talk to you for a minute, if it's okay with you?" Mira was speaking before she could stop herself, almost cursing to herself. _I really shouldn't be talking to her about this today, of all days!_

"Of course!" Krystal was smiling at Mira, her head cocked to the side curiously, clearly waiting patiently for Mira to continue on her own. _Well, no point holding back now._ Mira let out a sigh, trying to collect her thoughts.

"Will…. He's…. he's been scaring me a lot lately." Mira shuddered as several memories slipped through her mind at once, and knowing Krystal, she saw them too. "He won't take care of himself, he won't talk to me, and he is so obviously hurting! I want to help him but I just can't and I've seen the looks he gives me when I'm not looking… i….. I'm hurting him….." she shut her eyes as she spoke, just trying to not cry. "I'm useless to him!"

"That's not true at all Mira! He's just going through something….. give him time, okay?" Mira just sighed at Krystal's words. "Look, lets just go and enjoy ourselves tonight, okay? We can worry about this later, today is a good day, remember!?" Mira managed to smile for her before they both walked out of the dress shop, Katt already outside waiting for them with a rental car the new Star Fox team had rented. Everyone else was supposed to already be at the venue. Mira heard Krystal take a single shaky breath before she climbed into the car, Mira shooting her a reassuring smile.

* * *

I groaned as I sat down in one of the many chairs, shocked at how tired I was, just by dancing with Mira for a few minutes. Of course, that more than likely stemmed from not doing anything at all for almost two months. No matter how strong or well trained you might be, if you don't maintain it, you lose it. Fox and Krystals ceremony had been deceptively short, held on the edge of a man made lake in a park not far from their home. As it turned out, Paptoonian weddings had very short ceremonies, with the main meat of the wedding, so to speak, being the party afterward. They had simply said vows to each other, and then Peppy had declared them married, and that was that. There weren't any cernian elements to it, mostly due to the fact that cerinians don't have a concept of marriage, or so Krystal had told me once. There was such a thing as a 'life mate' where two people become bonded telepathically for the rest of their lives, but that was the closest thing they had too it.

My eye's slowly started to wander the area, seeing Mira talking to Fay and Krystal together. Seeing her caused a hollow feeling I couldn't quite place to settle across me, not like anything I had experienced until recent memory. _I really do not want to hurt her_. I took a deep shuddering breath trying to get that feeling to go away. my eyes dropped to the floor as I let out a sigh, not noticing Mira look in my direction at that moment. If I had, I would have caught the disheartened look she had when she saw me now. it was something I had seen several times before, when she thought I wasn't looking. _I need to reassure her. I know it's rushing, but if I proposed to her, it would at least let her know that I plan on staying around. It's not like I we have to get married immediately._ I couldn't help but shudder at that thought, more memories I didn't want to see again drifting into mind.

"You know, I think you need to get a job." I startled as I heard Fox speak, seeing him sink into one of the seats beside me.

"What makes you say that?"

"Cause it would force you to focus on something. Too much time to think can be terrible for you." I rolled my eye's at him as Fox spoke, but despite that, I couldn't help but see his point. With no real responsibilities, the past few months had been almost hell. Mira had been the only saving grace. Without her, I would have probably gone insane.

"I wouldn't even know what to do. I've always been a soldier. Flying with the corsairs had just been a fluke."

"You could apply for the Cornerian police academy. I wasn't kidding when I said you should become a cop you know. And I know a lot of people who would personally write out recommendations for you." I merely grunted at him, my eyes drifting back to Mira, just silently watching her as she laughed at something one of the others said.

"I don't know Fox. And what about you. I know you well enough that you gotta be pullin fur out cause of bein jobless right now?" My eye's returned to Fox as I spoke, seeing him smiling at me.

"Well, that would most definitely be true, except for one thing. I'm not. I start at the Cornerian Flight academy as a dogfight instructor next fall. they were damn near beating my door down to get at me actually." Fox chuckled as he spoke, myself rolling my eyes at him.

"Glad you got something so quick. And I'll look into it. okay fox?" he very curtly nodded to the words I directed at him, a smile lighting up his face as he stood and stretched.

"Well, enjoy the night Will, I'm going to go spend it with my wife." His eyes closed for a moment, that grin not leaving his face as he chuckled softly almost to himself. "Man, is that amazing to say. See you later Will." I waved to him as he strode away, my eyes returning to scanning the room. Wolf and Sheila had taken to the dance floor, which was quite the sight to behold, all things considered. Wolf was by no means an expert dancer, or to be more accurate, he had the same dancing skills as I had singing skills. In less than a ten second period, he had stepped on sheila's toes three times, tripped on his own leg, and missed grabbing her hand while transitioning to a different position. But the pair looked more than ecstatic to be doing so together. Fay and bill, along with Fox and Krystal, had all joined them, leaving Mira alone where she had been talking to Krystal and Fay. A sigh slipped out of me as my eye's closed, trying to settle my surprisingly shaky nerves. _Well, come on. You aren't going to just leave her hanging, are ya?_ My thought jolted me into action, standing and making my way straight to her to sweep her onto the dancefloor yet again.


	5. Nightmares of the Past

**Just as a big FYI, Restoration, and in hindsight, Deception, is no longer my main focus story. do not confuse this with me saying i dont intend to finish this story. trust me, it's a goal. but from here on, Restoration is a pure fun write. it's doin nothing for helpin me with my personal fic any more, and there for, it's gettin downgraded in importance to me. but don't worry, i'mma still keep quality up, i'm just focusing elsewhere. so yall are trackin, in the next week or so, i'm going to post the new focus story, which is, in all honesty, an Altered Universe of Deception. yup, you heard me, it's in a way, a retelling of these characters stories. i won't go deeper in but if yall be fans of Will, Mira, an this version of the Star Fox Gang, keep an eye out for that story to go up!**

* * *

Mira groaned as she felt something jab her side, not really sure what it was. She was just annoyed that it was waking her up. She had been enjoying a rather wonderful dream after all.

"No…. hang in there Smith! Han…hang in there!" Will's quiet and desperate voice broke clean through Mira's drowsiness, causing her to shoot awake. Will was thrashing back and forth, muttering over and over about things that were incomprehensible to her. she couldn't stop the sigh that slipped out of her, having been woken up like this by him almost nightly. Most of the time, she was able to calm him with out waking him, letting him simply sleep. But it seemed to only be getting more and more common. She very gently set her hand on his shoulder, seeing his entire body tense up at her touch. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the fear that leapt into her throat at that. Something about the way his muscles tensed looked so much like he did when he swung a knife at her, and that honestly terrified her. and it happened almost every time he was like this. she gulped, taking another breath to try and settle herself.

"Shh, will, it's okay….." she spoke very softly as she shifted her hand away from his shoulder, very gently brushing her fingers against his cheek. He slowly started to calm down, Mira starting to relax a little as he did so. It was only then that she became aware of the dull ache in her side, gingerly touching the spot on her ribs to discover her fur standing up as it started to swell around the impact point. _Did he really hit me that hard?_ The bruise was already extremely tender.

"Mmmiraaa? Whaa'ss going on?" She quickly panicked, hiding the spot on her side from him. being completely naked at the moment did nothing to hide the small injury.

"Oh! It's nothing Will, just go back to sleep!" she tried to sound normal as she spoke, but despite her best efforts, her voice rose several octaves. He groggily sat up, clearly staring at where she was covering her ribs, despite the darkness in the room.

"Why are you holding your side like that…. You're not hurt are you?" his brow furrowed as he spoke, his eyes returning to hers. Her ears dropped flat as she tried to look away. she felt his hand gently remove her's from her side, unable to stop her sharp intake of breath, the small movement causing a sharp stab of pain through her side. "That's…. how did you get this bruise!? It looks fresh." If he had seemed worried before, he was full on panicked now.

"i-It's nothing! You just accidently elbowed me in your sleep! It's fi…" her voice caught in her throat as she watched his skin pale. _He…. He thinks he hurt me! I'm causing this, I have to fix it!_ she quickly hugged him, trying to comfort him. "It's fine Will. Really. You just rolled over. It's bound to happen sometimes!"

"If you say so Mira" She felt his arms go around her, pulling her tightly against his chest, the lack of clothing between them being utter bliss to her. but even so, her ears remained flat against her head, a frown on her muzzle. She heard how disheartened he had sounded right there. _He didn't believe me._ She wanted to sigh, but she managed to hold it back. "It's nearly six in the morning. I'm going to go start breakfast." She startled as he suddenly pulled out of their tight embrace, quickly throwing on clothes before disappearing out the door to the room, not once looking at her again. She quickly put on fresh clothes herself, having showered before they went to sleep that night. When she stepped into the main room of his apartment, he was already completely focused on cooking. Before he could even notice that she had left his bedroom, she slipped out of the main door and down the stairs. The lobby was near silent as she stepped out into the surprisingly empty streets, tears in her eyes. _Damn it! I can't even help him when he really needs me anymore!_

"Mira!" she froze when heard Will calling out to her. she didn't let herself turn around, feeling Will's hand on her shoulder. "Mira are you okay!?" her ears pressed back again as she squeezed her eye's shut. "Mira!?" his voice raised several octaves.

"Will, I'm fine, okay!" she snapped that out at him, instantly regretting it as his hand pulled off her shoulder. When she finally opened her eyes, she found him staring at her, completely wide eyed and even paler than before. "I'm sorry! i… I'm…." her voice quickly failed her, unable to stop herself from breaking down crying. She felt his arms go around her, very gently rubbing her back as he quietly cooed into her ear, trying to calm her down. but if anything it only made her sob more.

"Mira! It's okay! Just…. What's… just come back inside, okay?" she barely managed to nod, letting him slowly guide her back up to his apartment, gently sitting her on the couch. She really didn't want him to let go, but he did, the sounds and smells of cooking food announcing why.

"Will, after I get off today…. There's someplace I want you to meet me at." She had no idea how she had managed to speak, but her quiet voice was clearly heard by him, given she heard him stop what he was doing.

"Uh, yeah, of course Mira. Just send me the address and when, and I'll be there." She absently nodded at his words, not paying attention to anything as he brought her an omelet, barely eating any of it, nor tasting what she ate, before she finally left for work.

* * *

 _Katt smiled as she pulled herself deeper against Falco's back, unable to stop the euphoric feeling she always got when they rode his hover bike together. And today was most certainly no exception to that. It was bright and warm out, not a cloud in the sky, even the wind being calm and mild. Not that she currently felt that as the air rushed past her fur, wearing nothing but a tube top and short shorts._

 _"Jeez Katt, mind not squeezin' me so hard? Ya might strangle me!" she barely heard his shout, his head canted ever so slightly back so he could shout more toward her._

 _"awl, come on Falco, you know you love this!" She merely laughed as she pulled him closer, feeling the soft leather of his jacket rubbing against her fur, her eye's slipping closed as she let out a purr._

 _"Oh shit!" she felt the bike swerve underneath her, being tossed from it as that happened. Her eye's snapped open to get a split second glimpse of the bike careening away from her, Falco falling beside her, just before she slammed into the pavement. The next few seconds, all she could really tell was that she hit the ground several times, and that she was in an excruciating amount of pain. When she finally managed to open her eyes, her vision was swimming, barely able to see a bend in her forearm that should not be possible. She let out a scream, barely noticing the sections of bleeding skin where the pavement had ripped several layers of skin off her body. She barely managed to locate Falco in her blurry vision, seeing the blue bird nearly two dozen meters away, and completely still. As excruciating as it was, she started crawling toward him, only able to use one leg and one arm as she dragged herself across the pavement, calling out to him several times, with no response._

"Katt, come on gal! wake up!" Katt startled awake as she realized she was being shaken, Falco's frantic shout cutting clean through her sleep. Her eye's snapped open to find Falco practically on top of her, both of his eyes flicking frantically between her own. "Yo okay Katt? You were screaming my name in your sleep!"

She groaned as she closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead. both her ear's were peeled as far back as they could, the pillow under her head preventing them from laying truly flat on her head. "I'm sorry Falco, just… dreaming about that day I broke my wrist and arm."

"Oh…. Yeah, that…." He flopped onto the bed beside her, an exsasperated sigh ripping out of his beak. His entire body seemed to just deflate as his feathers laid back down. "Jeez Katt, ya scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry, my bad! I can make it up to you?!" she smiled to him as he cracked the eye facing her open, half glaring at her.

"And how are ya gonna do that little kitty?"

Her only response to him was to roll over on top of him, gently purring into his ear as she pressed her entire body down on his. Her tail almost immediately snaked around one of his legs, the feathers around his face and neck tickling her whiskers as they puffed out. "oh… I'm sure I can think of _something_ that could _please_ you." she tried to make her voice as alluring as possible as she very gently whispered that into his feather covered ear.

"Yeah, I think ya just might."

* * *

Mira sighed as she paced back and forth at the small parking structure she had asked Will to meet her at. It was still a couple miles from his apartment, but it was very close to where she wanted to take him. and having already received a return text from him, it was now nothing more than her waiting for him to show up. Her ears perked up as she heard the revving of his bike's engine, able to easily pick it out from the Cornerian vehicles that were passing by. Although the grand majority of Cornerian vehicles were electric powered, that was a very recent change in their society, and a large number of collectors and richer individuals still had fuel based vehicles, using very similar organic fuel to humanity's vehicles, for the simple reason that fuel based vehicles had much better performance, and were very fun to drive, or so she had heard. She personally didn't even have a driver's license. The engine sound grew in volume as she saw him round the corner, surprisingly calmly, compared to his norm for riding. He had a high performance street bike, completely matte black in finish, matching the matte black helmet he was wearing. he rolled right into the parking garage beside her, almost ignoring her. but he almost immediately stepped back out, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You okay Mira? You are acting….. kinda strange today?" he didn't let go of her as he spoke softly into her ear.

"Just a lot on my mind Will. Don't worry okay? I'm fine, I have you after all." Truth be told, Mira didn't even believe her own words. Her mind had been a battleground for weeks now over everything that was going on between them. this morning had merely been the first time she had been unable to prevent herself from showing it outwardly, at least as far as Will was concerned. "Anyway, lets go. There's some people I want you to meet. Come on." He nodded following her around the street corner and down into the building she had found almost four weeks ago. most of the group was already there, Mira instantly moving to Karin, the small feline. She wasn't sure why, but something about the woman just made Mira think they would get along.

"Oh hey, Mira, right? And I'm guessing this was who you were talking about earlier?" The woman sounded surprisingly excited to see Mira, positively beaming at Mira.

"Uh, yeah, Karin, this is Will. Will, this I Karin, she was a combat medic, was a part of the Katinain campaign." Will very curtly nodded to the feline, politely accepting her handshake. Knowing Will, and how little Mira had given him about what they were doing, likely had the human on the defensive. That said, she saw the nervous looks one of the Vulpines kept giving Will, George quickly breaking away from the other three two come say hi as well.

"Hey Mira, nice to meet ya Will!" he was also equally cheery, but he always seemed that way. Come to think of it, he never once shared a story about him, simply listening and encouraging the others. "We're just waiting on Klein and Brady to start so, just relax and chat. Kay?" Mira nodded to him, just barely noticing Will do the same beside her.

"So I'm guessing your girlfriend didn't tell you what you're doing here, did she?" Mira's head snapped back to Karin, where the feline was simply smiling to them. Will seemed to stumble over what to say several times, shocking Mira. In all the time Mira had known him, he had never seemed to have trouble talking to strangers. "It's okay. We are just a group of war vets, looking for some folks who understand each other. You don't have to be shy here." As Karin spoke again, her voice squeaked several times, both of her angular ears twitching almost incessantly. She was clearly beyond nervous, and yet still trying to be welcoming and friendly.

"Well, um…. Okay." Mira's shoulders slumped as Will managed to say that small statement, his voice weak. He seemed as twitchy as she was. Karin simply nodded and stepped away, plopping into her usual seat, Mira noticing that someone had already added two more cushy seats for Mira and Will. "Mira, what are we doing here?"

"I well….." she let out a sigh as she debated exactly what to respond to him with. "I'm not sure how to help you and I just kinda stumbled across this so….. I don't know. Maybe you can help someone here. Or maybe they can help you." he seemed to relax as she spoke, giving her a warms smile.

"Oh… I see. That's…. I'll give it a shot, but I'm not sure help group is what I need." He playfully bopped her shoulder as he spoke, his more normal sly smirk returning.

"Good." She simply stuck her tongue out at him, as playfully as he had been. But she could tell he was still nervous.

"Great, she wasn't fucking kidding about bringing one of _them_ here." Mira startled at the sound of brady's harsh voice, looking back to see the canine glaring daggers at Will, Klein ushering him past and to the seats, Mira and Will picking out seats just as everyone else did.

"Well, we have ourselves another new guest I see! Welcome, I am Harry Klein, if you would, please, introduce yourself, and feel free to ask any questions you want!" Brady grunted at the friendly offer the psychologist made.

"Captain William Hawkins, former fifteenth group special forces, battle roster Whiskey- Hotel 7526. Was UEC military but left and joined up with Star Fox before the war started." He shrugged, several of the others there looking at them very differently. Brady seemed only more angered toward them, but the others all seemed to look at them with a newfound respect, the feline's jaw literally dropping.

"Bull fucking shit. Neither of you could have been in Star Fox, and even if ya did, you lousy pieces of shit should be in fucking prison!" Brady was accusingly pointing at both of them as his hackles started to raise, a light snarl and growl from his muzzle. Surprisingly, Will remained relatively calm. Mira on the other hand, wanted to dart across the space and slap the man outright. She had become extensively proud of being a member of Star Fox, and very defensive of that.

"Believe what you will. We were both Star Fox pilots. But that's it. nothing special." Brady grunted at the two of them the room falling eerily quiet all of the sudden.

"Well, is there anything you want to share with us Captain? You can talk about anything you need to get off your chest." George was the one to break the silence that had quickly fallen, Mira's eyes focusing on Will beside her. she watched as his eyes dropped to the floor, almost as if he was staring at something else, beyond the floor.

"I guess. As I said, I was a member of the US Military before I joined Star Fox. I was a deployment to our outer moons and we were on a patrol." He stopped for a moment gulping as he did so. As far as Mira knew, he had never shared anything from his time as a soldier, beyond the very vague description he once gave of his entire platoon being wiped out. "About our third patrol, we got hit by an improvised explosive, lost one of our trucks. Crew was alive but seriously injured. So I had my platoon dismount and start pulling security while myself, the medic assigned to our platoon, and my platoon sergeant all started extracting the injured from the vic. Specialist Smith was one of the crew members, and despite his shrapnel wounds and concussive injuries, he stayed up in the gun turret of the destroyed truck. Next thing we knew, we were under heavy fire, including mortars. I had the wounded loaded up and watched as Smith was shot in the chest as he covered us. the man just kept firing the turret until I physically dragged him out of it. I had no aid supplies, his were ruined by shrapnel, and it ended up that the medic was in a different vehicle than the one I dragged him too." his eye's closed as he was speaking, Mira able to see the tears forming on his eyes. She herself was shocked by the tale he was telling, having never known that he had been in more than one fight in his time in the US military. "I was with him when he died. And there was nothing that I could o. I just sat there, holding his hand as he begged me to bring him home. He wanted to see his wife and son again and I failed him. he passed away long before we reached the nearest base. i…. I'm never forgetting his face that day, the pain he was in. in some ways, his loss was worse on me than losing my whole platoon, because he was the first I had ever lost. So before you start saying anything against me, remember, we are _all_ soldiers. We have all experienced losses. You got that?" He straight up glared at Brady as he said that, almost all of the other's agreeing.

Brady and Will remained silent for the rest of the session, Will seemed to be completely lost in his own thoughts, Brady simply glaring at Will the whole time. Mira had wanted to say something to get Will to talk more, but she was frankly too scared to. She let out a sigh as the pair left the building, heading back to the parking garage that Will had parked in.

"So?" Mira tried to sound hopeful as she said that to Will, both trying to break the silence between them and legitimately wondering what he had thought of the veterans group.

"I don't think they can help me much…" Mira's heart fell as she heard him saying that, knowing her attempt to help him had just failed miserably. "But, I think I might be able to help some of them. most of what they are dealing with isn't too far from things I dealt with already. I mean, it still bothers me but….. gah what am I saying! I can't even sort my own problems out." He rubbed the back of his head as he finished, kicking at a loose piece of concrete almost simultaneously.

"Oh…. I'm sorry…" He instantly looked at her as her quiet voice broke out, Mira quickly looking away. she didn't want him to see her nearly crying right now.

"I know what you were trying to do there. And I really appreciate that. I just need to find my own way forward, okay? I don't think they will be of much help is all." She felt his arm go over her shoulder as he spoke, forcing her to stop as he pulled her into a tight embrace, one she was wary to return. _Damn it! no matter what I try, I can't help him!_


	6. Christmas with Star Fox

**Wow. this chapter has been one of the hardest chapters i have ever written for a story. trying to find the right way for it to go was... excruciatingly hard. most of the chapter was easy save one scene that has had me stuck for months now, but here it is! finally, i think i can get traction here again, truly!**

* * *

Fox startled as a human song started blaring though the room, recognizing Will's normal ringtone, not the one both he and Mira used for each other. He bounced himself up off the couch to go grab it, knowing Will was in the bathroom at the moment, having left his phone on the counter. As soon as Fox reached the phone, he hit the answer button.

"Hello, Hawkin's phone, McCloud speaking." Fox was surprisingly used to answering other peoples phones, all of his time as a mercenary aiding in that manner.

"McCloud, nice to hear from ya!" Fox instantly recognized Ramirez's voice, his thick accent being unmistakable.

"Oh, hey Ramirez. Will's in the bathroom right now."

"Oh? Actually, I think this works. I'm getting some leave, I know Will has an apartment but way I hear, he's got that gal crashin there every night. Need a place to rack out for a few weeks." Fox smirked, turning around to lean up against the breakfast bar.

"I got a spare room. I'll have Will send you the address."

"Also, uh, McCloud, you ever hear of a thing called Christmas?"

"No, what about it?"

"Well, Mill's wife is bringing my boy from the Sol system. We can't leave Corneria so they are flyin out here. They'll be here in time for Christmas, and I'd love to try and throw a Christmas party for him. he's only three so, I just feel it's important to do. You get me?" Fox smirked at his clearly excited voice, having not expected it from the cool headed soldier.

"Well, I don't really. You would have to tell me what this 'Christmas' thing is?"

"Wait, Christmas?" Fox jumped slightly as he heard Will speak, nodding to the human. "It's a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. Lot of americans celebrate it whether they are religious or not. What about it?"

"Uh, yeah, that's just about the gist of it. are you cool if we use your house?" Clearly, Ramirez had heard Will speaking, given he had remained silent while Will spoke.

"Yeah, sure, wanna chat with Will about it?" Fox got a positive answer from Ramirez and passed the phone over to Will, the pair seemed to talk for a while before finally hanging up, Fox instantly speaking. "So, Christmas… what all goes into this thing?"

"Well, on the surface? It's family and friends getting together to exchange gifts. There's a whole bunch of old traditions to it though, colors, a tree, ornaments, good ol' saint nick, just loads upon loads of stuff. To be frank, might be really hard to throw a Christmas party here, I doubt they have any decorations for it around here." Will didn't even look towards Fox as he began pacing back and forth, very clearly lost in thought.

"Well, I'm sure Krystal and I can help make decorations. Maybe some of our friends would love to help?" Will finally stopped pacing as Fox spoke, a small yet genuine smile crossing his lips. The first Fox had seen in a while in fact.

"Yeah, actually, I need ya to help me with a tree and food, I think I can get Mira working on ornaments, if Krystal wants to help with decorations, that would be a life saver. And we need to think of who all to invite to this shindig. Definitely Fay and Bill, didn't Fay just leave the hospital? Anyway, as much of the ol' gang we can get, Winters would likely love to come, I'm sure a couple of guys from Ramirez's team will be showing…. Can you think of anyone else?" Will had started pacing again, Fox rolling his eyes at him.

"Slow down there Will. I think you need to be focusing on finding a ring. I think a marriage proposal would be a perfect gift for Mira. Let me worry about guests and planning. Okay?" Fox couldn't help but smirk at Will, the human freezing for a second, his smile suddenly exploding into one of the cheesiest grins Fox had seen from him.

"You're right, it would be a great time for that. I'll go talk to Mira at her work, and get some info to you about it, later Fox!" he barely had finished speaking before he was almost flying out the door, Fox chuckling at him before grabbing his comms device, preparing a mass invite to as many of their friends as he could think of.

* * *

"Damn it you piece of shit, work!" Blake startled at the sound of the shouted voice, hearing a tool clatter to the floor as the female voice sent a stream of profanity out of it that made even his ears burn.

"You okay over there Mira?" he called that out across the bay, where she was currently working on rebuilding the vehicle he had tested her with her first day.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just frustrated!"

He let out a sigh before pulling himself out from under a work truck someone had brought in that day, a sled he was on letting him easily slip out from under the truck before slipping to his feet. A rag came out of his pocket as he began moving toward her, trying to wipe away the fresh grease all over his hands, and failing as much as he always seemed to in that regard. She was currently cursing to herself as she flicked through the vehicles technical manual on a large PDA, displaying several interactive diagrams of the many parts to the vehicle. "You sure about that? You've been cursing the ever living snot out of that thing all week." He stuffed his rag back into his pocket as he spoke to her.

She let out a sigh, still focused on the PDA as he leaned up against the tool cart across from her. "Just…. Trouble with my boyfriend is all."

"Care to talk about it?" she shook her head, prompting him to continue. "Well, I'd prefer if you do. I don't want my tools being chucked around anymore.

She let out a small sigh before minimizing the hologram. "He….. he went through something. And he's closed himself off to everyone because of it…. I want to help him but all I do is hurt him. it's stupid, I know, it just has me irritated."

"That's not stupid at all Mira. What did he go through that you're hurting him?" he tried to sound sincere in his concern, but it wasn't an easy thing to be concerned for someone you barely knew.

"It's not my place to say what he went through. it's….. complicated. Part of me is scared of him, and I can't help it. I mean, he nearly killed me, not once, but twice! The way he looked, both of those times…. He keeps reminding me of that…" now that he was closer, he could easily tell that she was shaking like a phone being called, the woman gulping several times as she tried to resume working.

"If he's hurt you before, and you are scared of him doing so again, leave him. fuck that asshole!"

"I… I can't. he needs me. And I love him, it's not like he is a bad person, not at all! He just… he has some problems…" she finally stopped trying to work, but was facing away from Blake, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes.

"Sounds to me like you are just making excuses for him. trust me, if you think he might hurt you, leave. It will start with small things, and just get bigger from there. Trust me, I just went through a divorce with a woman I thought I loved, and now I only get to see my son once a fucking week. Kill it now before you get really hurt." The door to the shop chimed, announcing a visitor, breaking Blakes focus on her. "One sec, just think about what I said okay? You seem like a really nice girl, and you don't deserve to be mistreated." With that, he left her alone in the bay, headed for the small customer counter, speaking as soon as he entered the separated room. "Hello welcome to Blake's Auto woorr…" he felt his voice drop off upon seeing the individual to have entered the shop, the armed human being somewhat of a shock to him. between the scars on his face, and the short cut hair, he reminded Blake of a soldier by every description he heard of earth soldiers.

"Uh, hi, I'm looking for Mira, she works here?" he stared at the man for a few seconds, shocked. He had heard all of the media displaying humans as vicious and vile creatures, to think of them as less than people. And after the news about Katina and the attack on Cicero City, he believed it.

"Who's asking?" he crossed his arms at the human, trying to make himself as imposing as possible, wanting to protect the woman in his shop.

The human seemed to take note of Blakes demeaner, simply rolling his eyes and chuckling. "I'm Will, her boyfriend. Nice to meet you Mr. Slate." surprisingly enough, the human smiled to him, holding his hand out in greeting, Blake tentatively accepting it as the man continued. "Friends of mine are planning a party, just wanted to see if she was gonna be on a break or something sometime soon so we could discuss it."

"Oh, hey Will!" Blake didn't get the chance to respond as Mira almost shouted, darting past him for the two of them to instantly be caught up in a deep embrace, the human actually picking her up and spinning her around. "Uh, is it okay if I go on lunch, I know it's a little early?!" she looked toward Blake as she spoke, seeming like a polar opposite of what she was just a minute ago.

"Uh, sure, see you in an hour." She nodded as the pair finally released each other, slipping straight out the door.

* * *

"Your tongue is running away Krystal!"

Krystal jumped as she heard Fay's voice, nearly biting the tongue in question. She hadn't really meant to be sticking her tongue out after all, it simple lolling out of her mouth as she focused on gluing a hook to a toy Arwing. She, along with Mira and Fay, had been making tree ornaments all day, though she admittedly wasn't entirely sure the purpose of them. she knew they were going to be putting them on a pine tree of some variety, but beyond that, this whole celebration escaped her. it wasn't that she was unfamiliar with celebrations like this one, Cerinia actually had too many celebrations to even dream of remembering them all, but this one was different than any she had yet to experience. Or, to be more accurate, something _felt_ different to her about it. Something she couldn't place.

"So I'm hungry, and I'm getting food! I'm going to charlie's, want me to grab you two anything" Fay's bright and cheery voice echoed slightly in the nearly empty home, Krystal looking up from the coffee table she was at to look at the canine.

"Sure! You know what I like by now! I trust ya Fay! Mira?" Krystal's focus shifted from Fay near the door to Mira beside her, who was currently using a small whittling knife to crave pieces of wood into ornaments. Her current project was a small Star Fox medal replica, much like the wings every Star Fox pilot was given as a team member.

"No! I'm not really hungry Fay! Thanks for the offer though!" Mira's voice wasn't quite her norm, which had become her norm of late. The only time she sounded normal being when ever Will was around. But any time he wasn't, she sounded like she was in some kind of pain or another, her quiet voice now most certainly not an exception.

"Alright Mira. If you change your mind, just give me a call, m'kay? I'll make sure you get something!" with that, the white canine disappeared out the door, leaving Krystal and Mira to quietly continue what they were doing.

Krystal slowly and gingerly set the ornament she had just created down, glancing at Mira. The younger woman was moving almost painfully slow, taking small chips out of the wood she was carving, and not even looking at what she was doing. As Krystal watched Mira, she slowly let her telepathy slip into Mira's minding, finding an incomprehensible mess of thoughts in her mind. Almost like her mind was nothing more than a pile of exploding firecrackers, no one sound able to be really registerable to the ear, but creating a tremendous amount of noise.

"Mira, what's bothering you?" Krystal spoke as softly as she could, not to hide what she was asking, but in an effort to be gentle with Mira. They were, after all, the only two in the house right now.

"Nothing is bothering me Krystal." Her voice was cold and dark in a way she seldom sounded, her eyes finally dropping to the carving she was working on.

"Mira. We both know that isn't true. Your mind is a mess right now. talk to me, please?" Krystal kept her voice soft and quiet again, but she added a sterner undertone to it, in what she would consider as motherly of a fashion as she knew.

Mira was silent for a while as she stopped carving the emblem, her eyes dropping to the floor. "I'm terrified Krystal…"

As small as they were, those three words caused Krystal's heart to sink deep into her core. She had thought she had an idea about how her friend was feeling, but the raw emotion in those quiet words was unlike anything the young woman had ever said, at least as far as Krystal had heard.

"Will… I keep trying to help him but all I do is cause him pain. I can see how terrified he is that he is going to hurt me… and as odd as it sounds, I am not afraid of that… it's what it is going to do…. What it is doing to him. and he is going to hurt me one day. I don't know how badly, I don't know when but I can see it. and when he does… it's going to destroy him. I don't want that to happen but I can't stop it! and being so powerless in this is just… I can't take this Krystal!" she curled up into a tiny ball as she spoke, burying her face in her knees as she started sobbing to herself. And as much as Krystal wanted to say something to her to comfort her, she had no idea what to say.

 _Because to a degree, she is right…_ Krystal let out a small sigh at that thought, pulling the younger woman into her chest as Mira continued to sob, gently stroking her hair. _I mean, we still have no idea what was done to him, add that to those genetic enhancements… things could go really bad between them, Mira could even be killed! And if he killed her… he would kill himself… after what he did when he killed Fara and the others I'm sure of it. I need to find a way to help them…_

"Mira, it's okay to be scared. we aren't going to let Will get hurt either. I promise, we are going to do everything we can to help him. this isn't on just you, and this is not your burden alone. He is a friend to _all_ of us." Krystal shuddered as she spoke, just hoping her words helped the poor girl, barely realizing she had started crying herself.

"I know Krystal…"

* * *

Fox let a grin cross his face as he looked around, extremely proud at what they had managed in such a short time. His main living area was separated from the kitchen by a walled in breakfast bar, and though the couch normally sat near the center of the room, it had been pushed back under the bar to clear the space. The long wall that cut the house in half, separating the bedrooms and main living space, now had a small pine tree placed dead center of the wall, and completely blocking the TV set. It had been covered in various ornaments and trinkets, from Mira's various animal carvings and such, to even toy Arwings and Wolfens, a toy Great Fox jokingly placed at the peak of the tree, as if it was aiming to crash into the living room. Will had emphasized the 'jokingly' part to that because the tree was traditionally supposed to be topped with a five-pointed star, as far as his family went at least. And with the four wings and long ventral stab of a rudder, the front profile of the Great Fox was at least mildly star like. Hanging from the ceiling just in front of the tree, was a glistening crimson string of cut out letters, forming the human words of 'Merry Christmas!' brightly and boldly to the entire room. This was coupled with several strands of 'garland', just green paper Mira had cut frills into to make it seem like it was a vine like pine branch, was hanging from various points in the room.

On the breakfast bar was Fox's pride and joy, being an entire array of human and Cornerian dishes for the party, complete with disposable plates and more than ready to be devoured by the coming guests, who should have been arriving shortly.

"So Will, think we got the right feel going?" Fox looked to the human beside him as Fox spoke, who was currently inspecting every inch of the decorations, and more prominently so, the food.

"Oh yeah. I think we did good. Thank you Fox for letting me do this for Ramirez. I owe that man way more than I can repay." Will was genuinely smiling again, and Fox was absolutely ecstatic to see that.

Fox made a quick glance over at Mira and Krystal, who were currently busy hanging up a final string of 'garland', before leaning much closer to Will. "So uh, did you manage to get that gift you wanted for… um, you know who?"

Fox's whispered voice earned him an exaggerated eye roll, but even so, Will pulled a small, plain silver band from his pocket. It was by no means fancy or nice, just a simple piece of silver with a small engraving along the outside, Fox recognizing the Cornerian script simply saying, ' _forever, together_ '. Fox gave Will a wide grin as the man quickly repocketed the small item. "Barely got it today actually. please tell me she has no idea…"

 _No, she still has no idea Fox!_ Fox glanced at Krystal, able to feel her in his mind, as she usually was. And as such, she had given an answer to his question without him even having to ask it.

"None what-so-ever buddy." Fox grinned as the younger man let out a shuddering breath, knowing exactly how nervous Will must have felt right then, having felt that nervousness himself not too long ago.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, announcing the first guest to have arrived. Fox immediately moved to the door and answered it to allow some of Ramirez's team in. the next hour or so seemed to simply fly by as more and more people showed up, most of Ramirez's team showing, Falco, Katt, Wolf, Sheila, even Peppy managing to make it. several of Ramirez's team mates had brought wives, and in one case, husband, as well as kids, dozens of presents joining the few Fox and Co had scrambled together under the tree. All in all, there were nearly a dozen kids here, most being under ten years old, all of which were playing to their hearts content with each other, while the adults were all laughing and joking, sharing stories with one another. The small space was absolutely crowded with people, but Fox honestly didn't mind it at all. Yes, he had to admit there were plenty of faces he didn't know, having never met the families of Ramirez's team, but it didn't bother him one bit. As far as he could tell, everyone here was beyond happy at the moment, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Hey Fox! Thought you might want to meet somebody!" Fox glanced up at the sound of the dark skinned human's voice, seeing Ramirez trotting forward with a child in his arms that could be a spitting image of him.

 _"Look! Look! Look! It's a fox daddy! Can I pet him! Please!"_ Fox couldn't help but chuckle as the little boy started freaking out as they approached, excitedly pointing at Fox as he shouted in English. Fortunately for Fox, the translator implanted in his ears seamlessly translated every word, but that wasn't something that would go both ways.

"No, you can't pet him! he is a person! Just like you and me!" Ramirez rolled his eyes at his son, still smiling.

"I'm guessing this andy, right?"

"Yeah, wow, I'm shocked you even remember that conversation Fox! So yeah, this i…"

 _"Daddy, look! He has whiskers!"_ the child shouted that as he reached up and grabbed Fox's whiskers, giving them a sudden and entirely not gentle tug. Fox immediately yipped in pain, doing everything he could to not try and jump away and force his whiskers to be tugged again.

"Andrew! I told you, don't just grab people like that! It hurts them!"

The child immediately let go at his father's words, Fox rubbing the side of his muzzle as the roots of his whiskers continued to tingle. "It's fine. he's a kid, I can't blame him for knowing how much that hurts." Krystal and Mira slipped over beside them as Fox spoke. something seemed odd about Mira's appearance, Fox taking a second look at her only to realize something seemed to missing. "Um, Mira, where is your tail?"

Mira glanced behind her for a moment before suddenly laughing out loud. "Oh! I forgot I did that! I tucked it into my pant leg!"

"Um Wh-AYYP! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE KRAZOA!" Krystal's voice had been quietly confused until every hair on her body stood up as one, in sync with the high pitched yip she had let out, just before her shouted voice filled the room. There was a loud thud as Mira beside her literally fell to the floor laughing uncontrollably. One glance told Fox all he needed to know, as there was now a human child playing with and trying to hug Krystal's enormous tail.

 _"Hey, come on Alice, leave her tail alone!"_ Fox had grown so used to hearing Will speaking in Cornerian the past few months that hear his native tongue sounded eerily strange. He came up behind Krystal and very gingerly scooped the small child up and away from the bushy appendage, just for Krystal to suddenly back her rump up to the nearest wall.

"Let's not have that happen again! And you knew about this didn't you Mira!?" Krystal almost furiously pointed at Mira, who was still rolling on the floor chortling at them.

"Duh! I was in the foster system, remember!? Vulpine tails are like kid magnets or something!" she had finally managed to calm her laughter, but she was still laying on the floor, trying to wipe away the tears the laughing fit had brought on.

"Well, I can think of at least one _attractive_ vulpine tail!" Will was starting to take the kid back to the others as he said that down to Mira.

"Will! No, there are kids here you perverted idiot!"

All her comment got her was Will laughing as he continued to walk away, shouting back as he walked, "Well, I could use the owner of that tail over here to help corral these rascals!"

"On it Cappie the Pervy!" Mira shouted that back, in Cornerian thankfully, as she artfully catapulted herself back to her feet to trot after him.

Meanwhile, Will was in the middle trying to stop himself from faceplanting, having tripped at her call out, visibly fighting laughter. "Cappie the pervy!? What forsaken pit did you pull that from you freak of nature!?"

Fox watched as the pair began to bicker back and forth while actively playing with the various kids, unable to stop smiling. No matter where he looked, all he saw was happiness and laughter, and after the war that was still so present in his mind, and all of the horrible things he had seen in it, the scene before him had to be one of the greatest he had ever seen before. _I'm really glad Ramirez asked us to do this…_

* * *

Mira smiled as she watched Falco passing out gifts, the impromptu santa hat on his head having been given to him because he had mistakenly worn a red leather biker's jacket to this party. So Will, jokingly, deemed him Santa, and he now had to pass out all of the presents. Which was a hilarious train wreck if she ever saw one, given he had no idea what was written on any of the labels, save the few from the present Lylattians. Of course, her smile wasn't as strong as she really wanted it to be, her mind fixated on what she had decided to do tonight.

 _How am I going to tell him though… I don't want him hurting any more than he has to be…_ she couldn't stop the small sigh she had, her eyes dropping to her feet for just a moment.

"Mira… can I talk to you? outside?" Will's soft whisper startled her slightly, looking at him for the barest trace of a moment.

 _Well, now or never…_ "Yeah, sure Will, i… need to say something to you too." she followed him as they shuffled free from the people filling the room, slipping through the sliding back door and out onto the small deck on the back of the home. It was just large enough to have an outdoor grill and table on it, but Fox had yet to get things like that, so the simple wood construction was empty for the time being, simply a raised and railed in platform overlooking the back yard.

Mira shuffled her feet as she stood by the rail, trying to not look at Will. _Damn it! this…. is gonna be hard…_ that thought slipped across her mind as she leaned on the railing, closing her eyes for a moment.

"So, you go first." Will's voice was soft and quiet, in that tone she knew he reserved for her alone. Hearing it now made her shudder in fear, knowing that what she had to say was going to be painful for him.

"Will…" _Damn it Mira, stop hesitating, just say it already!_ "I don't want to be with you anymore." She barely managed to whisper that, finally saying it aloud making her chest tighten as though it were in a vise. No matter how much she felt this was the right thing to do, she in no way wanted to. She did, after all, love him wholeheartedly.

"What?" His voice was barely audible, and completely shocked. She couldn't bring herself to look at him now, knowing how his face must look without actually seeing it.

"I'm hurting you. I can see it. I've been seeing the looks you give me every time you think I'm not looking. I've seen the pain you are going through, and I know I'm causing it. I don't know what's going on with you, and I know I can't help you! and the longer I stay, the more it's going to hurt you! and I can't just let that happen, so I'm leaving!" she finally looked at him, seeing the small twinkle of tears starting to form in his eyes as water began to well up in them.

Of course, her own eyes were already pouring tears out. No matter how much she wanted to stop it, her entire body was shaking, her heart pounding in her chest in a way that was down right painful. After everything she had been through, from being shot and stabbed, electrocuted, even what Noriega did to her, all of that pain was nothing to what she was feeling now.

"Mira… that's no-"

"Yes it is! I know you Will! We literally lived together for nine months! I've seen you at your worst and your best! I know what makes you cry and what makes you smile, I know the way you smell when you are terrified even! I know how much me being around is hurting you and I do not want that to continue any more!" she didn't realize how loud her voice was as she shouted that at him, her legs nearly buckling out from under her.

 _Please don't fight it! just leave! I don't want to hurt you anymore, just run away from me!_ She closed her eyes with that thought, turning away from him to try and hide her tears from him, no matter how futile a gesture it already was.

"Mira. You're right. I am hurting right now. more than I can express. I killed friends of mine. People I cared about. So yeah, I'm scared, I'm hurting, and I don't know what to do. But you are not the problem. I love you Mira, more than anything" his voice was soft and quiet again, but this time, she could hear a tremble even in his words. The previously sweet tone he normally had with her was tainted in a way she couldn't quite put a word too. "I… Mira please, turn around."

She let out a deep breath, pressing her hands to her forehead as she did her best to fight the urge to do as he asked. In the end though, she spun around and opened her eyes, only to find Will now down on his knee, a small silver band held up to her. in that moment, she froze. She knew exactly what she was seeing, but she couldn't believe it. after the months of torment she had seen him go through, after everything she had said, not only had he just said 'I love you' for the first time since he nearly died, he was now proposing to her. _this can't be real! I must be dreaming! This can't be real! Not after everything…_

"Mira. I love you with all of my heart. And I know how hard all of this is on you. but please, marry me. I'm not asking for anything immediate. Just… I don't ever want to lose you again. Even if it takes us a few years from now, I want this ring to be my promise to you… that no matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere." His voice was still trembling. Of course, it wasn't just his voice, but his whole body. It was as if he was just moments from collapsing.

 _Come on Mira, just say yes! You know you love him, and you know how much he loves you! just say it!_ Mira barely managed to close her eyes, very gently shaking her head no. "I'm sorry Will… I can't…" _What can I say to him? I can't just leave him without a reason…_

She heard a small faint sigh, and the sound of someone moving, but she still didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to see the pain she had just caused him. _I'm just a monster aren't i?_

"Okay Mira. I understand…Just" her eyes flicked open for a moment, seeing his tear streaked face, his eyes locked to hers. The almost empty stare he was giving her chilled her to the bone, her heart feeling as though it had suddenly stopped for the rest of eternity. "Be safe." With that, he turned around and stepped back into the home.

Mira didn't know if anymore happened after he left, for she collapsed where she was, doing everything she could to try and stop the tears soaking her fur as she sobbed without end.


	7. Remorse

**Wow. this chapter has alot of character thoughts in it...**

* * *

Fox braced himself on the wall as he slowly shambled down the hall. When he reached the living room of his home, he let out a small sigh, knowing that at some point he would have to clean up all the decorations. For the moment though, the tree had been shifted clear of the TV, and the couch had been moved back to it's normal position, as well as bringing the coffee table back in. Ramirez was already awake, sitting on the couch with his son, helping the child read a book. Seeing the pair like that made Fox smile, and in some small way, slightly jealous.

 _Jeez Fox, little too early to be thinking about that…_ he tried to shake his thought from his head as he started moving into the room. "Morning Ramirez. Seen Mira or Krystal yet this mornin?"

"Morning Fox. And no. not yet. You ever figure out what happened last night? I aint seen Will look like that in a long time." Ramirez kept glancing at the TV set as he spoke, prompting Fox to do the same.

"Mira broke up with him." the images currently on the screen were about rising property costs and unemployment rates across the planet.

"Oh… well… that certainly explains it."

"Yeah. anything interesting?" Fox gestured toward the TV as he spoke.

"Nothing really new. Economic analysts keep warning of rising crime rates, and there was a drug bust last night that the responding officers took fire from a UEC plasma rifle. To be expected though. Enough of those things are lying around right now that scavengers were bound to pick up a few."

"Huh, first time I've heard of it though. If it keeps happening, I could see a lot of officers getting injured." Fox watched the screen for a moment longer before heading to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast, quickly opening up his wrist computer while he did so.

Upon opening the device, he found an email from Peppy he had been waiting the past few weeks for, opening it only for his jaw to drop at the contents. "Holy shit!?"

"Alright, what's bad enough for Fox to let out an expletive statement when there is a three year old around?"

"Not bad… Good…" Fox's attention was almost entirely on the screen, scrolling through the insanely large list of hand written and scanned recommendations Peppy had acquired in Fox's stead.

"And that would be?"

"Huh? Oh, I asked Peppy to write out a recommendation letter to the CPD for Will… and he went to everyone he could to get more… gotta be ten, fifteen of them, all hand written! Senator Reeves, General Pepper, _Colonel_ Winters, wasn't aware he was promoted, Bill has one, a few other senators, shit, there's even a detective and a cop in here!" Fox scrolled through all of them, one at a time, finding that there were even ones from human commanders and even the human ambassador herself. There was even a form almost guaranteeing his acceptance into a class starting roughly a week from that day at the Cornerian Police Academy on the mainland.

Fox quickly closed the message, focusing all his efforts on finishing breakfast from there on. As soon as he finished, he rushed back to his room to get his shoes and car keys. As soon as he was back in the main room, he was speaking again. "So breakfast is at the bar, tell Krystal to let me know how Mira is doing when you see her. I'm going to go find Will."

Ramirez just used a thumbs up to respond as Fox rushed out the front door, quickly slipping into the drivers seat of his SUV. The drive to Will's apartment was just over half an hour, so Fox did his best to get comfortably settled in his seat.

When he finally arrived at Will's apartment complex, he brought his SUV down into the underground parking lot, seeing Will's bike in one of the spaces. _Well, at least I know he really is here._

He let out a small sigh as he parked his SUV, exiting and making his way to the elevator system. The ride up to Will's floor was mundane to the extreme, the elevator not stopping once, and leaving Fox with nothing but his thoughts and the typical dull elevator music. His feet carried him straight to Will's door, knocking as soon as he arrived. Minutes dragged by with no answer, prompting Fox to knock again, the second knock going unanswered. That prompted him to try the door handle, finding it to be unlocked.

Will's main room was dark when Fox entered, the lights turned off and the curtains drawn over the sliding glass door out to the balcony. It took a moment for Fox's eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, though the light from the hallway helped considerably. Fox flicked the light on as he closed the door, realizing Will was sitting at the table, his head in his hands. He had made no move to even react to Fox entering the room, much less try and greet him. He was clearly in the same clothing from last night, for a moment, Fox was convinced he had somehow fallen asleep in that position.

"Will?" Fox tried to be gentle with his voice, understanding just how much pain the man had to be in right now.

"Go away Fox. I just want to be alone right now."

"I seem to recall a time not so long ago that I said the same thing to you, and what did you do?" Fox tried to smile for him, but the way he hadn't even moved made that a difficult task. _I hope he can pull himself back from this…_ "Anyway, I didn't just come over here for nothing, take a look at this." Fox sat across the table from him, taking his wrist computer off and setting it between them, setting it into a holographic display mode. As soon as he had, he pulled up the message he had received from Peppy, spreading the files out to where each and every single one could be seen.

The images now being displayed before Will got him to finally move from his position. Now that Fox could see them, both of his eyes were red and puffy, there being faint traces of moisture still on his cheeks. He also had massive dark bags under his eyes. _Did he not sleep last night?_

"What the hell is this Fox?" his quiet voice was equal parts bitter and exhausted, bringing a frown to Fox's muzzle.

"They are recommendations for you to the C-P-D. Peppy got a hold of them. fill out this document here, and you are on a shuttle to the academy by next week." As Fox spoke, he manipulated the employment form that had been among the various documents, sliding it in front of Will.

"Get this shit out of my face." Will angrily reached down to the computer and shut the display down, just before shoving the device away.

"Hey!" Fox glared at him for a moment, managing to catch the device before it flew off the table. "I'm trying to help you Will!"

"And I don't care Fox!" Will immediately snapped that back, glaring across the table.

"Well you better! This is probably why Mira left you!" Fox froze as he realized what he just shouted, now wanting more than anything to take it back. "Will… I'm sorry…"

Surprisingly, Will didn't look angered at all by it. instead, his head fell back into his hands, small droplets starting to fall from his skin. "Don't be. Just leave me alone."

"Will, what I'm trying to say, is that we aren't that dissimilar from each other. We both need a job, or we start going insane. I think the best step for you, especially now, with Mira leaving, is for you to get one. At least to let it take your mind off that."

"Fox… Mira… Mira has been the only thing holding me together… I don't know what to do without her…" His voice cracked several times, more pain showing through than Fox had ever heard from him.

"I know. that's why I'm saying you should do this. to help you stay together. If not for yourself, for Mira. Okay?" Fox stood as he spoke, leaning across the table to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Despite what happened last night, she still loves you. I know she does. So just worry about getting yourself back together. She'll come back. I'll leave you be." Fox grabbed his computer as he finished, sending Will the files before stepping to the door. He couldn't help but stop at the door, glancing back at his friend once more. Will still had yet to really move, a small pool of water beginning to form on the table under his head. Fox let out a sigh before he stepped from the door, closing it behind him.

* * *

Blake glanced up as he heard the back door to his shop opening, smiling as he watched Mira make her way inside.

"Hey, feeling better I guess?" He smiled to her as he spoke, setting the tool in his hand down.

"Oh, yeah. sorry about having to call in. just been sick the past few days. All good now." she spoke as she removed a belt she was wearing, which was connected to the holster and blaster on her thigh. Once off her, she hung it on the back wall, out of the way. It didn't bother Blake that she carried it, especially given the way crime rates had been rising of late.

"It's fine. how was that… what did you call it… Chris party?" _That doesn't sound right_ …

" _Christmas_. And it went… f-fine." she didn't look at him as she spoke, her voice seeming to drop out as she spoke.

"Something up? You sound… well, really down in the dumps."

"I… broke up with my boyfriend. I'm sorry, I really wasn't sick I just… I needed some time." She set her hands on one of the tool carts, her eyes falling to the floor. A single tear slipped from her eye, disappearing into her fur.

As her employer, he really wanted to scold her for what she just said, but, the shear pain in her voice as she said it stopped him in his tracks. "So… what happened? He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No…I… I… hurt him…" tears started falling from her eyes, quickly soaking her fur as her eyes closed. Though, that action did nothing to stop the tears from flowing from her eyes.

 _What… What do I do?_ Blake was frozen for several moments, until his body decided to respond for him, moving over to her and bringing her into a loose and light hug, only to be surprised when she turned into it and almost threw her arms around his neck.

"I screwed up! I never should have! The expression he had when I told him! it was so… empty! I haven't seen him like that since we met, and even then, he… damn it! why did I do that to him!?" she almost shouted that, making Blake wince. All of her sobbing seemed to intensify, leaving Blake utterly dumbstruck as to what to do.

"You did what was right for you. you said you were scared of him hurting you right?" She nodded onto his shoulder, prompting him to continue. "Then don't worry about it. afraid I can't say I understand any of this, but, from what little you told me, you did the right thing. So just hang in there, okay?"

"I… need to go say something to him… his apartment isn't far from here so… I'll be back." She suddenly let go of him, striding over to where she had hung the blaster and grabbing it from the wall. She stopped momentarily to put the holster back on, wiping her eyes as best she could before she disappeared through the door, leaving Blake still standing where they had been, utterly speechless.

 _What the hell is going on with that woman!?_

* * *

Mira's feet carried her into the parking garage of Will's building, her eyes quickly finding Will's bike, a silent confirmation that he was in fact here at the moment. Her heart rattled away in her chest, the way her body felt right now reminding her too much of being on a battlefield.

She tried to clear her head as she stepped into the elevator, her hand naturally falling to the blaster on her thigh. As odd as it sounded, the weapon had become as much a comfort as it was a reminder. A reminder of what she had been through, of what she had managed to survive thus far. And a comfort because it had never failed her. when she needed it to work, it always had. But right now, it was no comfort at all, only reminding her of the times she had spent with Will, from learning the basics of ground combat, to the battles they had fought through, to even the times they spent simply talking with one another.

Which brought her up to the events of the past few days. And it made her want to start crying all over. She had done something terrible to him, and she knew it. she was abandoning him, when he needed her the most. And she hated herself for it. so as she stepped from the elevator, headed for his apartment, she still had no clue what she was doing.

 _What can I even say to him, after what I did…_ her feet carried her closer to his door, not even aware of anything around her as her brain created idea after idea, each as terrible and useless as the last. Before she knew it, she was at his door, her fist raised to knock, only to stop herself. _What if he doesn't want to see me right now? and even then, I can't just say, 'I'm sorry, I fucked up, forgive me?'. It's not that simple anyway! How could he ever forgive me!?_

Her arm fell to her side as her eyes dropped to the tile at her feet, letting out a small pained sigh. _Shouldn't even be here. I don't deserve to be… act like I never came back. At this point, it would probably be better for him. he can't trust me anymore anyway… especially with rejected what he asked of me…_

She let her eyes close, taking a deep breath to try and settle her shaking body. That breath did little to stop her quivering though. _He deserves a reason though. I never gave him one, and after everything he's done for me, I can't just leave him without a reason._

She brought her fist up to knock on the door once more, stopping before she could swing. _Even so, what can I say? If I just be honest, it sounds utterly stupid! Oh, hey will, I'm sorry, I can't take being around you anymore because I'm terrified of you!? all that's going to do is hurt him even more, as true as it is… and it really was a stupid reason to do that to him!_ a groan slipped from her muzzle as she slumped against the wall beside the door, rolling onto her back and letting her self slide down the wall until she was sitting by the door, her palms pressed against her temples. _But if I give him any other reason, I'd be lying to him! and that would just make all of this worse! Damn it, what can I say to him!?_

Tears began to leak from her eyes of their own accord, slowly beginning to soak the fur on her muzzle. She did nothing to hold the tears back either. at this point, she didn't care who saw her like this. _Damn it, come on, you'll figure it out when you see him! at least… at least then it will be from the heart…_ with that thought, she forced herself back to her feet, squaring off in front of the door before gently knocking. She did her best to wipe the moistier from her fur as she waited, slowly growing more and more anxious as time seemed to tick further and further by.

The wooden door vibrated in it's frame as she pounded on it this time, hoping he was just ignoring the door. Of course, it wouldn't have been the first time he did that. She groaned as the door remained unanswered, pulling his spare key out of her pocket and quickly unlocking the door. The room wasn't quite dark, though the lights were off. Light was bleeding through the sliding glass door, showing the oddly clean area. There wasn't a single empty can,, or dirty dish in the sink, like there usually was. And the room was utterly silent, not even the sound of the air conditioning that normally permeated the place.

 _Did he… no no no no no!_ she started to panic as images started to float through her mind, all terrifyingly detailed images of Will dead in his bedroom, blood soaking the bead from his body. Her body almost slammed through the door to his room, flicking the light on, only to breath a small sigh of relief when she found the room empty.

 _Wait, but if he's not here…_ her brain stopped in it's tracks, bile starting to rise in her throat as her trembling intensified. She scrambled back out of the room, straight to the room next to it, opening it to find it empty of people as well. That said, the room wasn't at all empty, looking like Will had converted it into a armorers work station, with all sorts of varied tools for doing high level maintenance on all types of firearms, even old school ballistic weaponry. It's emptiness was beyond unsettling for her, prompting her to dart across the apartment again, ripping open the door to the small half bathroom meant for guests. Upon finding it empty, she ran back to the bedroom, checking both the closet and the bathroom there, all to no avail. _Where is he!? He normally doesn't leave the apartment during the day unless I drag him out of here!_ She began to pace back and forth as her mind raced through possibilities as to where he could be, up until one thought struck her mind. _Fox. He might know…_

With that though, she pulled her phone from her pocket, quickly finding Fox's contact and calling it.

"Hey Mira, aren't you at work right now?" Fox sounded puzzled as he answered her call.

"I, um… where's Will?" she bit her lip as she responded to him, her feet finally stopping her pacing.

"Will's gone. Why?"

She nearly dropped her phone when Fox spoke, her heart producing a stabbing pain in her chest as it seemed to skip several beats. "G-Gone?!"

"Yeah. he's on his way to the mainland right now. just got back from dropping him off at the Space port. Why? Something up Mira?"

Her arms trembled as she pulled the phone from her ear, ending the call without ever responding to Fox. The device slipped from her hand as she moved toward the couch, slowly sinking onto it.

 _He… he's gone…_ that lone thought seemed to hit her harder than a crashing starship, every fiber of her being going suddenly and violently numb.


	8. Warming Days

**So first off, super sorry about how long it has taken me to finish this chapter. it's been a total pain in the but to write for me, and sadly, it's nothing more than a transitional chapter, so alot of time is covered with next to nothing happening. it's really just bridging the gap in the story, no more.**

 **Also, i now have cover art! which is awesome!**

* * *

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Blake!" Mira hollered that out as she opened the back door to Blake's auto shop. He merely waved to her, finishing storing tools he had been using that day. The blistering warm air of summer assaulted her as she stepped from the building, even the dying embers of the day not being enough to really cool the temperature.

 _I can't believe its already been two months…_ Mira slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she walked, well aware that she had a nearly forty-five minute walk ahead of her. but she didn't mind. In a way, it was calming for her. Plus, she was so used to working out everyday that now that she really wasn't, she needed some form of physical movement to help tire her out. Blake had offered to drive her between the shop and her apartment several times in the past, but she had always declined. His reasoning was the rising crime rates and poverty rates. On her route home, three separate 'tent cities' had formed in the past two months alone, filled with the homeless and destitute. Her response to him was the same every time, gesturing toward the blaster currently on her thigh and loudly proclaiming she could handle herself.

Suddenly, she felt a harsh tug on her holster just before she was shoved forward. She didn't even have to check to know her weapon had just been swiped, mentally cursing to herself.

"D-Don't move! All of your cash! Now!" the person's voice erupted behind her, not really loud, but still harsh and angry. Even so, the anger came off as forced bravado, a slight shake in the young male voice belying the fear of the speaker.

"Kid, you really don't want to do this." Mira softly said that as she raised her hands, having yet to hear the weapon whine to life, meaning the safety was still engaged.

"S-Shut uu-up! Cash! Now!" whoever the person was harshly jammed the weapon into her back, likely trying to intimidate Mira.

As soon as the weapon touched her back, she stepped back and spun, the startled canine behind her leaping back, but not fast enough, as she grabbed the upper frame of her pistol, easily jerking the weapon from his grasp. As soon as it was free, she gave it a light toss as she backed away herself, catching the weapon in a proper shooters grip and flicking the safety off. The weapon whined at her as she settled the simple iron sights on the canines chest, the combined motion of the pair back stepping putting several meters between them.

Now that she could see him, she realized that he really was just a kid, maybe fifteen or sixteen at the most. And though his clothes looked recently washed, they were filthy, with a distinct line across his midsection. One glance down the alley told her why. The one dumpster in the alleyway was open with half it's contents strewn about and small pile of electronics across from it, likely pulled from the trash by him.

"No! Don't shoot me, p-please!" he cowered before her, shielding his face with his arms.

Mira let out a small sigh, letting her weapon drop to a low ready, rather than being poised to fire. "I'm not going to shoot you. word of advice, don't try robbing people for a quick buck. Most don't even carry cash anymore, you can't use a card, and then there are people who will kill you just for trying."

"Wh-What?!" The canine peaked out from behind his arms, his ears and tail plaster to his body as he visibly shook.

"I said, I'm not going to shoot you, and don't go about trying to rob folk." She spoke firmly and calmly, not even shaken by the small event as she slipped her pistol back into its holster. Upon noticing the weapon being put away, the kid immediately turned and ran, almost colliding with Blake as he stepped from the back door of his shop. He gave the kid a worried glance before closing and locking the door.

"Mira? What was that?!" he quickly marched his way to her, his vision locked on where she was clasping her pistol into her holster, something she rarely did.

"Just a kid being stupid. Leave him be."

"Did he just try to rob you!? We gotta call the cops Mira!" he was almost shouting at her, gesturing back where the kid had run.

"No, leave him. I told you, he was just being stupid. Besides, no harm no fowl right?"

"Fine. I'm walking you home today though, got it!?" he pointed his finger at her, almost menacingly.

Mira though, found the gesture amusing more than anything, letting her hand rest on her weapon once more as she smirked at him. "I keep telling you I can handle myself just fine." Her words earned her a glare that she rolled her eyes at. "Well, I'm not going to stop you from walking with me."

"You are a pain in the ass, you know that?" She heard his mirthful response as he trotted up to follow her, the pair moving off into the city.

* * *

Wolf let out a small sigh as he watched the reds and blues of high speed travel dance in the Great Fox's forward viewport. The dark room caused the vivid colors to pop even more so than it normally would as the ship continued on it's journey to Katina.

 _I feel like this whole universe has gone inside out… Me, in command of the Great Fox? Would have never seen that comin'!_ he smirked at his idle thoughts, shifting in the incredibly comfortable leather command chair that was in the center of the bridge.

 _Damn I love this chair though! Makes me almost want to take away everything bad I've ever said about Fox! He sure as hell knows how to pick a command chair!_ He let his eyes close as a grin crossed his face, a small contented sigh slipping out of his muzzle as he let himself start to drift off to sleep in the comfort of the chair.

Before long though, a frown had begun to form on his muzzle as memories drifted through his mind, none of which were particularly sad though. If anything, most of them were what he would have considered happy moments in his life. Drunken brawls he and his team had gotten into, yelling at Panther for this or that, most of his memories of Fara as well. But with those memories came a small but intense pang of regret and despair in equal measures.

As much as it pained Wolf to admit it, he missed them, more than he felt he could describe in words. For all of their problems, they had been the closest thing he had known to a family. Even Leon, as cold and calculated as he always seemed, had always been there to pull Wolf's tail out of the fire, as seldom of a need for that as there had been. Every single one had their own quirks, problems, aspirations. And though he would have never admitted it aloud, he honestly wanted each of them to attain their goals, as twisted as some of them had been.

Panther had always talked about finding a woman he could barely 'handle', in his words. Though Wolf shuddered at the thought of what Panther had meant by that, given he had seen the cat hook up with several women at the same time, but he still hoped the man had found that at least once in his life.

Leon, as morbid as it sounded, had always wanted to assassinate a politician. And not just any politician, but the now Prime Minister Muzzin. Wolf had never questioned why Leon had such a strong desire, since even before Muzzin had taken the office of the Prime minister, his name had been popping up on the less clean side of the law. But he could understand if it was merely Leon relishing the challenge of getting away with such a feat. At the same time, even though he had changed the way he was living his life, he still would have gladly helped Leon pull off said plot. Having encountered Muzzin on one occasion since being pardoned, he had a strong feeling that the man was a vile snake simply begging to be killed. But without Leon, he no longer had the skill at his disposal or the motivation to go through with it.

Of everyone he had lost just a few short months ago though, he could not deny who he missed the most. Fara had been something he had never encountered in his life. Someone he had loved with what had felt like every fiber of his being. And yes, she wasn't what most would have considered the 'perfect woman'. She had been loud, arrogant, feisty to the core, and hated when she didn't get her way. But she had also changed Wolf's life completely. Before she saved him and his team, he had been debating trying to sell all he owned and smuggle himself to one of the other habited systems, so he could retire well away from where he was a widely known and wanted criminal, in hopes that he could try his hand at living a normal life. But she had convinced him to use his skills and knowledge to start doing good. She had supported him even when he felt he was a hopeless cause, had sincerely believed in him being able to stop being a criminal.

As the memories he had made with her slipped through his mind, tears began to well up in his one good eye, quickly falling into his fur to trace dark lines into his fur, likely un-noticeable in the dim lighting of the bridge.

"So this is where you have been hiding! And here I thought I'd find you playing with your red rocket in your room or something!" a bouncy and airy feminine voice erupted in the bridge, seeming to echo off the empty walls.

Wolf nearly jumped from his seat, his heart rate skyrocketing in an instant as he snapped his head around toward the entrance of the bridge. Sheila had just entered, striding in with her usual bouncy and over exaggerated gait.

"Oh, cool, I actually got the right room this time!" she continued her bouncy way toward him as she spoke again, her voice completely unchanged from the moment before.

"Hey Sheila… Wait… THIS TIME!? Don't tell me you have been walking into random rooms on the ship and shouting that!" Wolf's voice rose several octaves as what Sheila had said fully processed in his mind.

"N-nothing! Nothing at All Wolf!" her voice was also several octaves higher that it was a moment ago, but retained her naturally bouncy and airy nature. In sync with that nature, she bounced her way over to Wolf, intentionally swiping her tail into Wolf's muzzle before plopping her rear onto the arm of his chair.

"How many?" he very calmly responded, trying to not react to her very blatant and promiscuous maneuver.

"Okay, fine. Twelve." She tutted at him, looking up and away from him as she crossed her arms.

"And how many had people in them?" he cringed as he asked that, hoping the answer was none. Though they had been certainly more than friends or colleagues over the past few months since Fox's wedding, neither of them had really said what they were. Not privately or publicly.

"Only one. Freaked the ever living snot out of Slippy though!" she giggled maniacally, her tail wagging into Wolf's face as she did so.

Wolf let out a groan, clamping her tail down to his lap as he did so. "Stop it."

"Nooooo! It's no fun if I can't annoy you!" she flopped back as she spoke, trying to sit in Wolf's lap like a pup, her large frame making that a lost cause.

"Good. I don't want to be annoyed." He grumbled that out, shifting uncomfortably as her warmth started to spread through his lap and crotch.

"Hmm. That's a thought." She seemed to be speaking to no one in particular as she lounged on him, oblivious to the fact that she didn't fit. She was actively stroking the underside of her chin in the universal thinking pose.

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Eh, you shouldn't be." She suddenly rolled off his lap, landing on all fours before springing back to her feet.

 _How much energy does this canine have?! We spent most of today moving around high density armor parts and fighter components, yet she hasn't stopped moving since she stepped in here?!_

"Soooo Wolf, you should take your pants off." Her voice was so plain and blunt that Wolf almost didn't understand what she said as she clasped her hands behind her back, teetering back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Wh-What!?"

"You heard me. Pant's. Off!" she let out a small giggle before suddenly pulling the t-shirt she had on completely off, revealing herself to have no bra on at the moment.

The sudden display of self exposure caused Wolf's brain to come grinding to a halt, barely aware that she had dropped the short jean shorts she was wearing to leave her in nothing but her cinnamon and cream colored fur. And though the lighting was dim in the room, the red's and blue's dancing through the viewport placed her in an utterly unique lighting that made her all the more alluring. That there being the main reason why Wolf's brain was completely locked down now.

"Well come on stupid! Don't leave a girl hanging! It's rather rude you know!" she had returned to the same teetering position she had been in a moment ago, sticking her tongue out at him in the process. Her tail was flicking madly back and forth behind her, showing her excitement in the moment.

 _Oh Boy!_

* * *

Krystal glanced away from her computer's holographic screen as her wrist computer rang, scooping the device up to see Mira's face on the display. She let out a small smile upon seeing it, having not heard from Mira in nearly three months. After Will had left for the Cornerian Police academy on the mainland, Mira had stopped talking to them completely.

"Hey Mira! It's been forever since we heard from you!" Krystal could feel her tail wanting to wag a little in her chair as she answered the device, her computer open to job listings almost forgotten.

 _"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that Krystal. Just… been trying to work some things out."_ Mira sounded almost nervous over the device, but that was only Krystal's best guess. Without being in range of her telepathy, she was terrible at judging tones and inflictions.

"Don't worry Mira. We understand that. Have you been doing alright?"

 _"Yeah. Job has been covering my rent and living expenses. Not that I don't already have enough to live off of for a few years. Haven't really been getting out much though."_

"Well, why don't you stop by later today? Fox is at the flight academy right now, discussing the coursework he's going to be teaching, so he won't be home for another hour or two, but you can come over anytime!" she unconsciously stood from the dining room chair she was in and started pacing back and forth, the device pressed against her ear as she waited for a response.

 _"Not today. Not feeling it. Listen I wanted to ask you something…"_ Mira's voice was once again filled with the same nervousness it had just moments ago.

"Of course, what is it?" Krystal couldn't help but feel a little down herself about Mira turning down her offer, knowing it probably showed in her voice despite her best efforts. A long silence filled the comm line, causing Krystal's disappointment start shifting into worry for her younger friend. "Mira?"

 _"Sorry… Just… Having some trouble figuring out how to frame this… What would you say if I started dating someone?"_

Krystal let out a small sigh before walking around the living room sofa, plopping down into it as she thought of how to respond. "I… Would say that you and Will still have a lot of unfinished business, and that now may be too soon." What she really wanted to say to Mira was that it would be a horrible mistake for her, but she had no desire to anger Mira, merely wanting to support her through something she had no doubt was as difficult for Mira as it seemed.

 _"Maybe… My boss asked me out last night."_

"And what did you say to him?"

Mira let out an audible sigh over the phone before she quietly responded. _"I told him I'd think about it. I mean, he's a good person, and a great boss. He walks me home everyday after we close up the shop, I've watched his kid for him a few times, but… I just don't know."_

"I would say to take your time Mira. Think things through, make sure you are doing this for the right reasons. And above all, take it slow. You just got out of a long and very close relationship."

 _"Okay."_ She let out a small sigh before she continued. _"Well, thanks Krys. I'll try to keep in touch better. I'll talk to you later. You two take care, alright!?"_

"Of course. You take care too Mira. Bye!" she waited long enough for Mira to say bye as well before hanging up, letting out a sigh as she set the device on her lap.

 _Well Will, things are going to get very complicated when you get back…_


	9. Return

**Okay, starting to get back into the feel of this story. Taken me a while but i'm happy with what i have so far. things are starting to get fun here :)**

* * *

I eased back on the throttle for my bike, letting it's engine slow the bike to near stopping before squeezing the clutch in, letting the bike stop on it's own.

 _I wonder if she'll even talk to me…_ that thought drifted through my mind as I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before looking in the large bay window for the mechanic's shop Mira worked at. With the day as bright as it was, I had the sun visor down on my helmet, flicking the button that controlled it so I could actually see into the store.

Mira was easily seen inside, sitting on the store's counter, a broad smile on her face as her feet idly waved off the edge of the counter. Her tail was happily flicking up and down behind her, her attention entirely focused on the man behind the counter. She threw her head back a little as she laughed at something, nearly falling off the counter as she let it fall back down, clutching her sides.

Seeing her happy couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto my face, about to kill the engine on my bike to finish parking when I saw her lean forward, sharing a kiss with her canine boss that lasted for several moments. During those long seconds, I felt my heart sink clear out of my body, a hollow feeling replacing it that I hadn't felt in what seemed like a lifetime. I clenched my teeth as I watched them separate, a broad smile still on her face.

Slowly, the hollow feeling I felt when I saw them kissing began to fill with an entirely different emotion. Anger. It was though the emptiness had tapped a well of lava, filling every fiber of my being in seconds. I shut the engine off, kicking the kickstand down as I prepared to storm into the shop. But before I could unstrap the chinstrap for my helmet, I stopped myself.

 _She's happy right now. If I stormed in there, there is absolutely no way I won't hurt her…_ The anger slipped away as fast as it had come, several tears leaking down my face as I looked at her one more time, her mouth moving a she spoke to the canine. I closed my eyes so I would stop watching her, not even making an attempt to control the flow of tears down my face as I flicked the power switch back on and started the bike. As soon as it was running, I flicked the sun visor back down and gunned the engines, probably far louder and harder than I had intended. As I did so, I released the clutch, the bike jerking beneath me as I rocketed away from the storefront.

I tried to focus on nothing but the roadway ahead of me, whipping by cars well over the speed limits for the tight city streets. As soon as I could, I found the on ramp for one of the main highways around the city and merged onto it, shifting up several gears to push the bike up to much greater speeds. Thankfully, Corneria City's highway system was both simple and functional in it's design, with five straight highways leading to and from the cities core. One more highway edged out the pentagram that made up the central district of the city, with a junction at each of the other highways leading out onto the arms of the island. The Loop, as it was known, was a never ending flow of traffic, with no street lights or stops, making it a very efficient way to get around the island.

The wind blazed by, tearing at my jacket and pants, whipping through the open venting on my helmet as I instinctively weaved through the traffic. The motion of the bike reminded me much of the motion to a fighter banking in atmosphere, riding a bike like this being the closest I could get to flying anymore. But even that thrill didn't even scratch the hollow pain slowly filling every inch and fiber of my being. Several times throughout the ride, I found myself debating just letting the bike slam into the guard rail of the raised highway, an act that would have surely flung me to my demise, if not simply crushing me against the wall. Each time that kind of thought came up in my mind, I forced myself to shake it away, trying to think of the number of people I cared about no longer living, as well as those who were. Even with that, it kept drifting into my mind, like the flow of the tide.

 _I need to talk to someone._ With that thought, I glanced at the small navigational map embedded into the bike's tiny dashboard, along with the digitized speedometer and tachometer for the bike's engine. Fox's house was in the residential area of the city, a vast suburban sprawl located on one of the star shaped islands five arms. It was currently a good quarter of the loop away from me, but I shrugged and let myself focus on the road.

With a destination now in mind, I was able to push most of my thoughts and feelings clear, focusing solely on controlling the bike as it ripped down the highway, slipping onto the residential highway as soon as I reached the interchange. At the high speed I was traveling, it barely took twenty minutes to reach the exit I needed, having already memorized how to reach Fox's home. From there, it was another fifteen minutes of main streets and neighborhoods before I was rounding the corner of Fox's home, about halfway between next corner and myself. At the next corner, was a blue and orange mass of fur, easily recognized as a pair of anthromorphic foxes.

I took a deep breath before I eased the bike after them, deciding to follow them until they stopped, and giving me time to figure out how to speak to them after not saying a word for five whole months.

* * *

Fox leaned on his cane for a moment, his brow furrowed as another wave of an intense pins and needles feeling made his right leg nearly slip out from under him. He took several deep breaths as he waited for it to go away, awkwardly standing on the front porch of his home. Once the feeling had passed, he took a deep breath, trying to bring a smile to his face before he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hey Fox! You are home early today!"

He heard Krystal shout from the kitchen, immediately turning toward her slightly as he made his way into toward the small dining area, situated behind their living room. Once there, he immediately sat down in one of the chairs.

"Yeah, a little. I don't have any students yet, I'm just back briefing what my classes will be on. I'm not taking normal students so they want to know what I'm going to be teaching them." As it was, the academy had wanted Fox to be teaching advanced flight classes to the highest scoring members of the academy. Fox instead, had proposed a different tact. He felt that if he taught the worst at the academy, he could improve the overall skill of pilots as a whole, rather than separating the elite from the common pilots any more than they already were. Among the reasons he proposed that idea, was his work with both Slippy and Mira. Slippy had barely passed the flight exams for the academy, but under Fox's guidance, had become an ace pilot, only seen as bad in comparison to his fellow team mates. Mira hadn't even been able to pass the entrance exams for the academy, but had turned out to be an equal pilot to some of the best pilots in the system.

"Sounds pretty fair. Have they accepted your idea yet?"

"I think they have. Director was talking about potential candidates for it, so fingers crossed, right?"

"Of course. I still can not believe it's been months since they asked you to teach there, and you have not even taught a single class!"

"It's just going to take some time Krys."

"I know."

"Any luck on the job front for you?"

Krystal let out a small sigh, Fox watching her as she finished cleaning the counter. "No. nothing that sounds of any interest to me. I really do not want to be a waitress or some other menial job."

"Yeah. I can't blame you there." He could see her whiskers dropping as she stood there for a moment, the expression disappearing as fast as it was there. She smiled to him, but it seemed weak. "Why don't we go for a walk Krys? It's beautiful out right now, so why don't we enjoy it?"

Krystal visibly debated Fox's little proposal, her snout dropping toward the floor as she leaned on the counter in front of her. "Fox… we shouldn't you still are not moving around to well. You just spent five minutes on the porch just trying to not fall over."

"I'll be fine Krystal. Let's just enjoy the day, okay?" he gave her the warmest smile he could muster. When she looked up, she returned his smile, her tail weakly wagging.

"Okay. Let's go Fox." Her soft voice melted his insides for a moment, his tail trying to move, but it was pinned into place on the chair.

Fox quickly stood, grabbing his cane from where it was leaning. With in mere moments, they were out in the warm humid air that was normal on the artificial island that was Corneria's capital. Almost instinctively, Fox's and Krystal's hands slipped together, their tails intertwining as they quietly walked the streets. It didn't take them long to reach a small park in their neighborhood. There was not a whole lot of people out and about, just what looked to be a family playing with their kids.

Fox felt his leg starting to give out on him, leaning on his cane as he slowed down.

"Come on, let's sit down for a minute." Krystal spoke very softly, gently nudging him toward a bench.

"I'm fine, we can keep walking." He tried to sound confident and shove the pins and needles sensation from his mind.

"Foooox, I can feel your leg you goofball. You don't have to act tough for me." She was rolling her eyes as she walked, more forcefully directing him toward the bench. Once they arrived, she helped him sit down, as his leg started to lose all sensation. She immediately sat beside him, snuggling up to him and letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"Thanks Krystal."

"Of course. It's beautiful out today."

"Definitely is." Fox closed his eyes, letting his head rest on the top of Krystal's head, one arm wrapped around her.

"Fox, Krystal." Another voice joined them, startling him. One that he instantaneously recognized.

"Will!" he and Krystal both spoke simultaneously, Krystal leaping off the bench to pull the human into a hug, which he didn't return. Fox wanted to stand and greet him, but his leg wouldn't respond to any of his commands. Will's eyes looked bloodshot and puffy, even from where Fox was sitting.

 _Has he been crying again?_

"It's great to see you! It's been months since we heard from you!" Fox smiled toward him, feeling that smile weaken as Will's face remained expressionless.

"Sorry about that. Couldn't find the words to talk to you with." He was very quiet, not really looking at Fox as Krystal let go of him.

"You could have just said hi. Told us how you were doing." Krystal spoke in stark contrast to Will's blankness, very brightly and cheerily in fact.

"I guess. I passed the police academy. Got assigned to district one, here in the city. Been back about a week." His voice still sounded bland and emotionless, but Fox noticed small changes in his stance and tone, almost unnoticeable ones. If he could place his tongue on it, he sounded utterly defeated.

"Well, that's good to hear." Fox tried to retain his smile, but could feel himself faltering as Will remained silent.

"So, have you spoken to Mira since you got back?" Fox's eyes darted over to Krystal as she spoke, watching her almost innocent expression. It was immediately apparent as a façade, as she sub consciously bit her lip.

Will closed his eyes for a moment, all of his muscles tensing for the barest trace of a moment. "No. I haven't."

 _He saw her already Fox. He's thinking about it right now._ Fox tried to not glance at Krys as she shared her thought into his mind.

"Well, to warn you, she's…. well, she is trying to move forward. Just like you."

"How so?"

"Well, she… she still has her job. And has a boyfriend, but we don't know much. She doesn't talk to us." Fox felt that, as much as it might hurt him to hear, the truth was far better to say now than trying to lie to Will.

"Well, that's great. She deserves to be happy. Heaven knows she's been through enough already." His voice had gone softer, Fox able to discern traces of sadness in it, but also, relief. "Anyway, I was just dropping by to let you guys know I was back in town. Still have the same number, same place, if you need to find me. If I don't answer, I'm probably at work. I start tomorrow. Bye you two." He turned on the spot as he finished, hands tucked into the pockets of his riding jacket.

"I hope he's going to be okay. He's….. almost back to his old self, with out the humor. It's really scary to see if I'm honest." Krystal spoke very softly as they watched the human leave, headed for his small sport bike at the edge of the park, likely having rode it there.

"Me too Krystal."

* * *

"Here, this is so you when watching a horror movie!" Blake gestured to his phone as he flipped it around for her, already playing a clip from some movie or another.

Mira just quietly watched from where she was sitting on the counter of Blakes auto-works, her tail flicking back and forth as the scene slowly played out. In it, was a doll, that, given the blue hued lighting and bad coloring job on the doll, made the doll have a creepy vibe to it. Add to it the crescendo of grainy instruments, and it was a typical scene of horror movies, designed to build that anxious edge. Once the grinning doll was facing the camera though, a loud and clear voice suddenly proclaimed 'Hi! Welcome to Dingo's Café!' in a bright and cheery voice.

Mira burst out laughing at the sudden cheery voice, nearly falling off the counter as she did so. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like something I would do! What can I say though, horror movies just aren't scary to me anymore."

"I know! And it ruins my favorite genre! Especially when you start cheering for the bad guys!" Blake rolled his eyes, a grin on his face as he darkened his phone.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I want to join them in killing those same annoying college idiots they use for damn near every movie! Besides, I know you love it!" she leaned forward as she responded, cocking her head every so slightly as she smiled coyly at him.

In response, he leaned down to her, gently and calmly kissing the very end of her muzzle for several small moments. It was just about the biggest show of affection the pair ever shared, but Mira was more than okay with that. He was always gentle and kind with her, and had never asked more of her.

"I regret to admit that I do. Makes watching them a whole different experience."

Before more could be said, Mira heard an old school combustion engine roar to life, one of her ears canting toward the entrance to the shop. The high pitched whine of the engine was oddly familiar, loud enough and powerful enough to be felt as much as heard. Her head snapped toward the bay window dominating the front of the store, seeing a matte black sport bike just as it was peeling away. The rider had no long muzzle, nor a tail, the jacket and helmet along with the bike all setting off memories for her.

 _Will?!_ She launched off the counter with that thought, rushing out the door as her heart hammered away in her chest. The bike let out another roar from down the street as it careened around a corner, Mira only gaining an equally small glance of it and it's rider. But for her, there was no mistaking who it was.

Her body was quaking slightly as her brain caught up with her body, knowing exactly why Will had been there, and exactly why he had peeled off like that. There was no way he missed Blake and herself kissing. She could only imagine what was running through his mind right now, the thought alone making tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Mira! You okay!?"

She barely reacted at all to Blake's voice, her mind still focused on the brief glimpses she had seen. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Just thought I saw someone I know. Sorry, let's get back inside, I'm just being stupid." She tried to smile to him, gesturing back inside.

"Damn near gave me a heart attack, running out like that." He muttered to himself, shaking his head as he lead the way inside. Mira followed shortly behind him, stopping just before the door to give the street one last glance, her ears searching for any sound of the familiar bike, but finding none.


	10. First Day

**I have a double update for yall now! was able to get my laptop out to where i was and complete and wrote these to chapters for you, and i am _finally_ getting to the meat of the story. things will be a good bit more exciting from here on!**

* * *

Officer Damien Bradley fought to keep his eyes open as he sat in his squad's briefing room, a cup of coffee steaming away just inches from his muzzle. It's glorious aroma barely even scratched at his senses.

"Come on Bradley, it's not even your shift yet and you already look asleep!" he just waved off his colleague, trying to get his brain to wake up. But it was all to no avail. The canine had been pulling extra shifts, his squad having three officers down this month alone. One dead, two in the hospital, all shot by gangs in their district. Several of the other squads had casualties too, with record numbers of police deaths this month alone.

"Hey Brad, got word that we are getting some new hands today, fresh from the academy. Maybe you can stop pulling double shifts, eh?" he groggily cracked his eye open as a female avian spoke from beside him, the bright yellow woman grinning at him.

"Yeah, and maybe I can finally get some sleep too." He let his eyes close again, taking a deep sniff of the coffee again.

"Aaaaannnnd one of them is that human they had in the news the other day. First human to ever pass the Academy. Ten liat says L-T is going to give him to you!"

"Casey, I hate you…" the bird laughed at him as she settled into the seat beside him, lounging back in the chair.

"Hey, hey! Look it's the damned human new guy!" one of his squad mates shouting that managed to perk him up enough to sit up, sipping on his coffee for a moment before looking out the windows around the room.

The human was immediately evident, given the entire floor of the precinct was eyeballing him. Some were bold enough to call out friendly greetings. Most though, were glaring daggers at him. Bradley though, was more curious about their different uniforms.

The normal uniform of the CPD was a formal shirt, sleeve length dependent on the weather, tie, slacks, and equipment belt, all in shades of a deep navy blue. These new uniforms were all one shade of navy, and were comprised of baggy cargo pants, bloused into boots. The top was some sort of t-shirt like material, with sleeves and sides looking more like military apparel. Though the equipment belt was retained, they each were wearing slate grey chest plates and back plates, tightly fastened to their upper bodies. The plates all looked like repainted military armor, a sort of reflective plate designed to disperse plasma bolts away from the wearer. Three of the new recruits, human included, slipped into his squad's briefing room.

"Attention!" One of his other colleagues shouted that out, Bradley nearly dropping his coffee as he snapped to his feet, facing the front of the room.

"At ease boys!" the canine in charge of the squad had slipped in from his office, leaning on his podium. Their lieutenant was smaller than average, both shorter and slimmer than most of his squad. He always made up for that with shear speed and agility though, so not one of the squad had ever thought to make fun of him for it, even though the man needed a step stool to see properly over his own tall podium. That said, most of the people in the room would have been hard pressed to see over the podium without a step themselves, simply not needing one. He had speckled grey, white, and black fur, the fur darkening around his eyes and along the back of his neck to make it look like he was permanently wearing glasses. One of his ears was always kinked about halfway down it's length, the other standing straight up to leave him looking lopsided at all times.

"As you all may have surmised, we have new recruits today. Bradley, take Hawkins, Sergeant Caldwell, take Mallis, Jacobs, you get Huerta."

Something about the name, 'Hawkins' was oddly familiar to Bradley, looking at the three recruits to try and guess which was going to be with him. With them all in the room, he could easily see each of their names stenciled onto the chest plates. Hawkins, as it turned out, was in fact the human. To which he glared at the smug grin on the bird beside him for.

"Shut up Casey."

"Nope, called it!" the bird winked at him, making the canine roll his eyes at the bird.

"Secondly, you may have noticed by now that the rookies are all wearing different gear than you all. That will be the new patrol standard. The police chief feels there have been too many shoot outs in district one for our officers to continue to go unarmored. If you already have tactical plates, start wearing them. If you don't, go down to the armory and sign them out. That is not optional for any of you, regardless of your assignment. Anyone who is carbine certified, you will be carrying a carbine at all times as well. I don't expect you to have the new tactical uniforms today, but try and get them in the next two weeks. I've sent your schedules to your wrist coms, Bradley, I need to speak with you. Everyone else, dismissed, and keep your eyes open out there. I don't want anyone else getting hurt." He shouted most of his short little speech before stepping off his podium and moving back into his office.

"Great, what did I do this time. Rook! Stay here!" he called back at the human as he scooped his coffee up and slumped his way into the lieutenant's office. Upon arrival, he immediately sunk into one of the chairs, taking a long gulp of the bitter brown fluid. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yeah, Shark Biscuit over there I've been told is a bit of a loose cannon. Aggressive on the draw, tends to shoot to kill right out of the gate. Not the usual we want but times are rough so I'll take what we can get. Keep an eye on him, and once you think he's ready to work on his own, give him your extra shifts. Been asking a lot of ya lately mate, so try to take it easy once you can, alright?" Lieutenant Leo Bergland sunk into his own chair behind his desk as he spoke.

"I'm fine sir. Anything I should know about him?"

"Other than he had a recommendation list as long as me, is a former soldier, and knows how to fly starfighters, not much else of interest I could pick out of his file. Obviously scored extremely well on the tactical exercises, only got docked for shooting most of the perps."

"Alright. I'll make sure to get him good to go, and get some rest sir." The lieutenant nodded to him and waved him out, Bradley immediately complying, with another drink of his coffee. The rookie, Hawkins, was still standing by the back of the briefing room, silently watching him.

Now that it was just the two of them, it was evident that he had several differences from even his fellow recruits, as far as equipment. He had several extra pouches on his left side, holding what looked a lot like power packs for a pistol. His pistol was also larger and bulkier than the standard slim firearm the department issued, though it was not uncommon for officers to use non-issued sidearms. Bradley himself was using a military model sidearm with a light and laser assembly built into the frame. Another difference was that his side arm was not up on his waist, like most officers, but in a holster strapped to his thigh.

"Well, I'm Officer Bradley, we'll be working as partners for a while, at least until you get more than your feet wet." Bradley held his hand out to the human, something about the human's features still being utterly familiar, yet hard to place at the same time.

"Pleased to meet you Bradley. What do we have for today?" he spoke very calmly and curtly, his steel grey eyes fixed to Bradley's in a way that was almost unsettling.

"Well, past month or two I've been doing a lot of street patrols. We have a couple of plazas in our squad's patrol area that have some refugee camps cropping up in them, plus we have a huge open air market. Mostly sells produce and such from the mainland, so it tends to be pretty populated. Was thinking we would focus on the refugee camps today." He gestured to Hawkins to follow him as he stepped out of the room, ignoring the many desks around the room as he headed toward the elevator.

District one of Corneria City was so heavily populated that it's police station was in a fifteen story building. The top three stories were for the police chief and his subsidiary staff, as well as the city wide task forces. After that, the next three floors were for the precinct captain and his four squads of detectives. Included in those floors were most of the techs and evidence handling offices, intentionally built in close proximity to the detectives. The next six stories looked almost identical to one another, set up with four separate briefing rooms at each corner of the building for four different squads on each floor, complete with break rooms and plenty of shared office stations for the officers to file reports from. The first three stories of the building included a massive three story tall atrium, as well as the majority of the community outreach programs and other public legal services.

The building also had several basement levels, the first being a huge array of locker rooms and showers for the entire building, complete with a full gym. The second basement floor was dedicated to the police armory, had a direct freight elevator to the police motor pool next door, and was where any of the more sensitive pieces of evidence was stored. The bottom and final basement level was a temporary holding facility, with several dozen holding pins. Lately those pins had been almost over flowing at all times.

Once on the elevators located in the back of the building, Bradley hit the button for the elevator to take him down to the locker rooms, aiming to get his plates before heading to the armory to draw out his small carbine. He was one of the few officers who was currently carbine qualified, most of the other officers not bothering to refresh the course over the years.

"Do you know who to speak to get computer access? I want to get into one of the carbine courses as soon as possible." Hawkins' voice startled the still half asleep Bradley, nearly causing him to spill coffee on himself again.

"Yeah, IT is on the third floor, back half of the building. They'll get you set up. Let me know if you need help getting into the course. It doesn't take long, you just got to remember to keep qualifying bi-annually to keep the certification. And you're just shooting a twenty-five meter silhouette so should be cake for a former soldier. I'd honestly recommend it to all of the recruits." He spoke almost with out thinking, simply info-dumping off the top of his head as he took another drink of his coffee.

"Tracking."

"Tracking?"

"Sorry, old military slang. I already know where to find the forms to enter the course and what it requires. I just needed the computer access."

"Ah." Nothing but the calm and gentle orchestral piece that was the elevators music followed their short conversation, Bradley glancing at the human to find he was staring at the wall the whole time, his expression completely blank. "So, got a girlfriend, wife, 'special alone time helper'?"

"No." his answer was extremely curt and sharp, his eyes never leaving the wall.

"Family?"

"No."

"Friends?" Bradley winced slightly as he asked that one, legitimately nervous that his new underling was going to respond with yet another negative.

"A few." His response was still as curt as his previous ones, his eyes still solidly locked to the wall.

"Well… at least it wasn't another no."

"All due respect, I would rather focus on our job."

"Alright, fine, I'll meet you at the motor pool in ten minutes" Bradley mumbled that out as the elevator opened to the locker room level, marching off toward his locker.

* * *

Krystal groaned as she sank onto a bus stop bench, irritated by her day so far. She had gone for several different interviews at various jobs, even a local physiatrist in hopes to use her telepathy to help people. But the moment the topic of schooling came up, she was almost immediately dismissed. As far as Cornerian businesses were concerned, tutor she had been forced to study under as a child was not acceptable as an education. It was a problem she had faced before, after first arriving in the Lylat system with a broken down ship and next to nothing to her name, and had persisted her entire life until she joined Star Fox. Star Fox had been a blessing for her from the moment Fox ran across her on Sauria.

Now that She and Fox were both no longer members of the team, finding work was a huge problem for her once again. Granted, this time around, she had a loving and supportive husband, and though paying for a house completely out of pocket, plus furnishing it, had put a massive dent in their combined finances, they still had money left over from the payouts at the end of the Division war. So finding a job was less a necessity and more her simply not wanting to be bored. Even so, the struggle to find work was still a total head ache.

She had a good hour or so before her next interview, so she was content to simply sit and watch people go by for a bit, more to be off her feet than anything else. At some point, she knew she would have to move to get lunch, but she was content for the moment.

Krystal let out a small yelp as she realized someone was with in her mind, recognizing the thought energy of another Cerinian. It was odd to feel after so long with out it, that she almost completely missed the meaning to the message. Though she understood what it meant, it actually had no form of words to it, simply a contextual meaning to the pattern's derived from what the thoughts were of. It was something she had tried to explain to Fox at some point, with the clearest understanding he could ever manage being it was like talking with sensations and images rather than words. But, after so long in non-Cerinian society, her own mind had trouble processing it. To her best guess, it was someone who thought they knew her, and was happy to find her again after such a long time.

 _"Who are you!?"_ she harshly forced that thought back at the other person, knowing it likely did not have the elegance she was once capable of, and being a thought of spoken words, it was likely the other person would not understand it.

 _"My apologies Krystal, I never thought I would ever sense you again, after you ran away. I am… uncertain of this… talk with tongue you seem so familiar with. The people here call me 'Granny', though I feel it is at least mildly insulting. Of course, not as insulting as a student not recognizing her master."_ Krystal could feel the person's amusement, memories of the person starting to flood her mind. She, unlike most Cerinians, had a written name, Elder Huntress. As simple as it sounded, it was the way the few cerinian's were named, mostly because names were for written records and stories. As such, only really important figures had them. Krystal herself didn't even give herself a name until she met Fox.

 _"Teacher!? You're alive!? Where are you?!"_ Krystal leapt off the bench with that thought, feeling more of her former teacher's amusement through her mind.

 _"Not far. I will guide you."_ With her thought words, came a flood of images, taken straight from the minds of the pedestrians around them, giving her a mental map to a park bench just a couple of blocks away.

In an instant, Krystal was almost sprinting her way through the crowd, trusting the map fed into her mind as she ducked through the people. Thankfully, it wasn't a very busy day, even so, she got several stares and shouts of annoyance as she startled people. She didn't care though, a sort of excitement she could barely even understand coursing through her veins.

Moments later, she rounded the corner to see the small park, turned into one of the many refugee camps around the city. At the edge of it, on a bench and easily visible from where she stood was a single lone Cerinian, small in stature, even compared to the mostly emaciated survivors. Her fur was a pale blue, almost white, with dozens of permanently bleached 'tattoo's' as Will always called them in her fur, far more intricate and complex than Krystal's they were, after all, a story of the woman's accomplishments, from her beginnings as a hunter to becoming one of their kingdom's leaders. The woman, with her pale almost sightless eyes, was smiling directly at Krystal.

Krystal whole heartedly returned the smile as she slowed to a walk, calmly making her way toward the bench and immediately sitting down. "It's amazing to see you teacher! I… thought I had lost everyone ten years ago!" she didn't really think as she spoke, so caught up in the moment that she didn't care that most Cerinian's did not speak to one another.

"Cha-ild. Talk… no." the woman's voice was about as usable as her eyes, coupled with her lack of knowledge of the Cornerian language, caused a sigh to cross Krystal's muzzle. The older woman was still smiling at her though, her body shaking slightly, as though she was cold.

 _"I'm sorry. I've gotten so used to talking to people, telepathy is a little… strange to use once more."_ Krystal thought that back to the elderly woman, as she continued to inspect her, unable to not feel a little sad. Ten years ago, though the woman was showing her age, and was already mostly blind, she was still fit, and had long silvery hair that was utterly gorgeous alongside her dulling fur. Now, that hair was gone, only a thin tuft of grey hair growing from her head. Her body, once toned and shapely, seemed to have decayed to that of a corpse. Seeing someone like her going from a proud and strong woman, to the decrypt state she was now in in just ten years, was beyond saddening.

 _"worry not child, nor over my condition or your own. You have lived a very different life than any of us could have ever imagined. I apologize, but I already looked through part of your mind to make sure it really was you after I sensed you…"_ her mental voice was almost timid, or ashamed, the Elder's eyes looking away from Krystal.

 _"It's fine teacher. I can't blame you for doing so."_ Krystal smiled to the woman as warmly as she could.

 _"Well, that ease's my mind at least some. You found yourself quite the handsome lad away from our home."_ Several images were forced into Krystal's mind, all of Fox, and mostly of the times they had been alone together, clothing being…. Forgotten.

Upon seeing the images that the Elder was popping into her mind, taken from her own memories, her cheeks immediately warmed, likely to the point that her facial fur was completely upright, the interiors of her ears going pink. _"Okay, maybe I'm not okay with you having explored_ **those** _particular memories!"_

The Elder merely laughed, her weak and grainy voice barely audible. _"Does not make me any less happy for you my child. Both your mother and father would have approved of him!"_

 _"So… they… didn't make it?"_

 _"Sadly, I do not believe so. After Cerinia burned, that man, Andross, as the people here think of him, took both of them from us. I… I do not know what became of them. I'm sorry…"_ she could feel the sorrow in the older woman, several images from her mind bleeding through their connection, showing Cerinians being taken from the camps over the last decade, her mother and father included. By the images, she seemed to remember every single face and every single person taken.

 _"I understand."_ She had a brief flare of hope that her parents had survived Cerinia's destruction, but the images and memories flooding her mind from the elder dashed that small hope.

 _"I didn't want to bring it up, because I know how much is troubling you of late, between finding a… what was it, job? And the problems your friends are having. If you ever need any guidance, I'm still here for you._ " The elder was smiling toward her once more, gently placing a hand on Krystal's shoulder. Even so, several tears slipped from the older woman's eyes, dampening the fur at the corners of her eyes.

 _"That would be nice actually. Would you like to come to my home? I'm sure Fox wouldn't mind, and I would love to spend some time with you again, teacher."_

 _"That's a shocking thing to hear from my student that tried to skip our lessons the most."_ The elder coyly responded to her, smirking at Krystal despite the tears in her eyes. _"But yes, that would be wonderful. By your memories, your mate is quite the cook, and I would love to test that myself. I doubt he will match my standards though."_

Krystal chuckled and rolled her eyes at the older woman. _"He doesn't have access to your ingredients, don't judge him too harshly! I'm going to give him a call real quick, hopefully he can pick us up!"_ Krystal made sure to share her understanding of cell phones and phone calls over their link as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. As soon as she had the device out, she punched Fox's contact to call him.

"Hey Krys! You called me at the perfect time, I just got out for the day!" Fox's voice spilled from the device almost immediately, the device having not even rung once.

"That's great! I, um… could use a ride home. And I have a guest I want you to meet, nor do I think you will believe it till you meet her…"

* * *

My eyes wandered the area as I walked beside the Beagle I had for a partner, taking in the plaza turned tent city we were currently patrolling. There were hundreds of small tents and make shift structures throughout the area, filled with Lylattians of all ages and species. I'd even spotted a few Cerinians clustered in small groups. They were the most emaciated looking, but none looked like the images shown in the news of where they had been kept. Most of the blue vulpines had their fur back now, only a handful having patches. Unlike the other refugees, they seemed to almost always be smiling, and would give me broad smiles and waves hello. More than once, I had felt them entering my mind, much like the times Krystal would. Most only seemed to use it to say hello or another greeting before moving on, only a few being able to speak Cornerian yet. Those who did, always said hello verbally, no matter how off it sounded. None the less, I couldn't help but feel nervous around them, something about seeing them putting a sort of unease into my mind that I couldn't place my tongue on.

Even with that strange unease, the way the other Lylattians treated seeing me was far more unsettling. Where my partner would get the occasional cheery hello, even a few of the peoples seeming to know him by name, every single one glared or hid as soon as they saw me. That said, I couldn't blame them at all. These people were all displaced because of the destruction caused by humanity, so seeing them shun myself for being human was entirely expected on my part.

While I walked, my mind kept returning to what I had seen the day before, unable to get Mira out of my head. With that memory seemingly playing on repeat in my head, as well as our interactions before I left for the academy, I felt hollow inside. The only thing I hoped, was that it wasn't readily apparent to those around me.

"Ya know, I don't think this was such a good idea for us to start with…" Officer Bradly spoke as he scratched the back of his head, drawing my attention to him. Both of us had on the same blue baseball cap, with a Cornerian PD logo on it, though it didn't quite look right with Bradley's more formal uniform.

"Why not? Cop's are just about the only protection these folk have. They can despise me for being human all they want. I'll still protect them." I let my eyes slip away from Bradley and back toward scanning the area, looking for any sign of anything really. Of course, street patrols like this one were more to put law-abiding citizens at ease that to actually prevent crime. They were a show of force tactic, not really meant to be effective in directly stopping crime.

"Well, gee, I don't know, the fact that all of these people hate you?"

I almost ignored his statement, not out of spite or anything of that nature, but because my eyes had stopped on something. That something was a small vulpine kit, no older than three or four years old, standing by herself, muzzle pointed toward the ground toward the ground. She was hidden behind several makeshift structures, in an 'alleyway' if you would, and completely alone. Above all that, she was a shade of deep dark blue, most of her fur exposed as she had little to no clothing.

"Bradley, two o'clock, behind the tents." I spoke without gesturing toward the kit, starting to make my way that way. Bradley quietly followed me, quickly working our way around to where the girl was. The slim 'alley' had several layers of trash, the girl's eyes snapping up as soon as we entered the alleyway. Both of her teal eyes were as wide as saucers upon seeing us, the fur around her eyes damp with tears.

She moved to run, freezing when Bradley spoke, rushed, but gently. "Whoa there, we don't want to hurt you!"

"Bradley, Cerinian's don't talk like us. She probably has no idea what you just said."

 _How do I even know that?!_ That random bit of knowledge had seemingly appeared into my head. It felt like I had known it for a while, but I couldn't place where from.

"Alright, then how the hell do we calm her down?!"

"Just stay calm yourself. Think friendly thoughts, things like that, I guess. Hopefully, she'll read our minds, sense our emotions and trust us." I calmly responded, crouching down to gesture toward the girl. While I did so, I tried my best to imagine her running to us and hugging her, then us taking her somewhere safe, out of the sun, where there was food, clothes, even toys that she was playing with.

 _This is freaking stupid…_ I wanted to smack myself for that thought until I felt her entering my mind, almost like someone was pouring water into my skull, almost imperceptible. As un noticeable as it was, it was almost like a flare going off compared to Krystal doing the same thing. The sensation brought a smile to my face as I continued to try and imagine happy things happening for her, if she came for with us.

She seemed to start to relax, taking a step toward me when I began to imagine finding her parents. They were almost faceless in my imagination, simply appearing obviously Cerinian. The moment that thought crossed my mind, she recoiled away, letting out a shuddering cry. In the same instant, the fluid like feeling she had left in my head sucked out, like someone had sucked it through a straw.

 _Damn it, I didn't mean that!_

"Dude, now she's crying, the hell are you doing to the poor thing!" Bradley tried to take a step forward, but the girl scampered further away from them, still balling her eyes out.

"Calm down. I'm not positive, but… I think something happened to her parents." I remained on a knee, gently shoving Bradley back as I shoved images of Krystal into my mind, mostly memories, in hopes that she would see that I knew a very kind and caring Cerinian. While I did so, I tapped the side of my head, hoping she understood the small gesture. Slowly, the fluid like feeling slipped back into my mind, but with it, came images, memories, emotions, none of which were mine, and I was able to easily separate it from my own. Over the course of them, it showed her life, since her birth into one of the camps the Cerinians had been in, her parents fear, her own, as again and again, Cerinians had been taken away from them. And if they resisted, the armored soldiers doing the taking would open firing into the crowd. During one of those instances, I saw her father gunned down. Not long after, her mother had passed away in her sleep, the gaunt and almost hairless form of the vixen making it clear to me that she had starved. Once the almost movie of memories had finished, he couldn't help but want to join the girl in crying.

"What's going on, you're both quiet and this is really weird…"

"Shh. I'll tell you in a second…" I shooed him off as I tried my best to keep my focus with her.

 _I'm really sorry for what you have been through, but I promise you, you will be save, and loved, and cared for with us._ With that thought, I tried to re-imagine what I had earlier, putting as much positive thought into it as I could. It was extremely hard to do, given the very negative feelings and emotions running through my mind because of her memories, but I still focused on it the best I could, particularly showing her joining us. Physically, I held my arms out to her once more, startled when she launched from where she was to wrap her arms around me, still crying loudly. I gently patted her back, trying to be as soothing as possible.

 _Thank god that worked. I don't know what we could have done if she ran off._

"Bradly, put a call out to central. She's an orphan, no parents. I don't know how she slipped through the cracks when the Cerinians were brought here."

"Allllright. I still have no idea what just happened but I'm going to trust you." He grabbed the hand mic on his shoulder so he could key it up." Central, this is Officer Bradley."

 _"Go ahead."_ Will heard the male radio operator for their squad respond through his radio. Meanwhile, he started to pay attention to his surroundings again as he picked the crying girl up. Several people seemed to have noticed what they were doing, and had been watching the encounter.

"We have a lost child, partner think's she has no family. Cerinian, maybe four years old. Could use a car to get her a lift back to the station."

 _"Ten-Four, Casey's car isn't far from you, should be there shortly."_ I gave Bradley a thumbs up to let him know I heard the radio call, Bradley nodding as we began to make our way back to the street. The girl's crying to be finally subsiding a little, a small bit of the hollow feeling I had from the day before feeling some how less hollow.


	11. The Fountain

**I have a double update for yall now! was able to get my laptop out to where i was and complete and wrote these to chapters for you, and i am _finally_ getting to the meat of the story. things will be a good bit more exciting from here on!**

* * *

Bradley let out a small sigh as he walked with Hawkins, his mind utterly bored. Over the past two weeks, he had tried several times to get Will to talk to him about anything not work related, but it was a total failure so far. No matter how he tried or what he asked, he never got more than a redirect of the conversation, if not just straight up silence.

"So, I got word this morning about that Cerinian Kit we picked up?" He glanced at his partner as he spoke, but Hawkins made no move to respond, his eyes scanning the market square they were moving through. "Oh come on, more silence?! You gotta loosen up a little!"

"No, I really don't need to." He responded very plainly and curtly, almost callused in a way.

"Finally, he says something! Do you wanna know what happened to the kit?" he threw his arms up toward the sky as he spoke.

"If it will get you to shut up." He more or less grumbled that out, adjusting the plates he was wearing.

"She got given to a foster family already. Is with another Cerinian who lost his parents. So she's in a good spot for now. And seriously, what do you have against being friendly?" he brought them to a stop near the small fountain in the center of the market, his hands dropping to his hips.

"I don't have anything against being friendly, I just don't want to be." Hawkins glared back at him.

"Why not? This job will drive ya nuts if you don't talk with your fellow officers."

"I'll be fine." He curtly responded, his eyes beginning to wander again.

"If you say so dude." Bradley shrugged and let out a small sigh, wanting to sit down for a moment but also knowing it wouldn't be professional to do so. "Jeez, my feet are killing me!"

Hawkins merely grunted at him, still not looking at him. Suddenly, a song blared out of his pocket, one with human words that Bradley had no comprehension of. Hawkins on the other hand, visibly froze, his eyes widening as his face seemed to sag before Bradley's eyes. "Mira…" his voice was nearly silent, the whispered name making Bradley raise an eyebrow at him.

"You going to answer that dude?"

Hawkins snapped out of his frozen state after Bradley spoke, scrambling to pull the phone from his pocket. He seemed to stare at the screen for a moment, gulping once before he tapped the screen.

Before he could speak though, a bright silvery-blue lance of light ripped between the pair, a whizzing crack assaulting Bradley's ears. Both he and Hawkins dropped to the ground at the same time, Hawkins's literally dropping his phone the instant the plasma bolt had crossed their vision.

* * *

Mira's breath came in ragged gasps as she slowed to a stop, a beep causing her music to stop for a moment, letting her know she just completed her two-mile run to mark the end of her work out for the day. She pulled her phone from her pocket, using the fitness app to double check her times and it's GPS to see just where she was now. Not that she really needed it, given she was at one of the parks near her apartment. Surprisingly, despite the low-income area she lived in, this park had yet to be converted into a refugee camp, one of the few in the city. As such, it had an overflow of people at it, all wanting to spend the day a little closer to nature than their normal city lives allowed. She quickly looked for the closest water fountain, forcing her aching muscles toward it the moment she saw it. Most of her body hurt, having started the day with a serious of excruciatingly slow push ups, pull ups, crunches, and squats, making sure each rep lasted well over thirty seconds. She had barely been able to reach half the number she was used to doing, her run time for two miles after the exercise nearly doubled from when she and Will did the same exercise on earth.

 _Not surprising though, I haven't been doing anything lately._ She reached the water fountain with that though, pressing the button to summon forth water. As she drank the cool liquid, she instinctively listened to the conversations around her. All of them were the typical mundane conversations, talking about the sharp rises in grocery prices, school work, jokes, things she was used to hearing from people merely relaxing in a park.

She released the button for the fountain, the water falling away as she sucked in air for breaths, stretching in place to try and alleviate her aching muscles.

 _I really hope he's alright…_ she still remembered the brief encounter she had with Will two weeks ago, and the awkward phone call she had with Fox later to confirm that it really had been Will she saw that day. Every time she thought about that, it caused her chest to ache and burn, hating herself for the pain she could only imagine her actions had caused him by now.

 _I should call him. Talk to him about it. Maybe he'll understand?_ She let out a small and quiet sigh with that thought, somehow feeling ultimately guilty about the whole affair. She knew that she really hadn't done anything wrong in the past few months, but no matter how much her mind thought that, she couldn't help the feeling of guilt she had.

" **I'm not done with you yet!** " she let an audible scream out as that was harshly whispered into her ear, so close that she felt the warmth and humidity of the speaker's breath. Though she couldn't place where from, she most certainly knew the voice, all of her training and experience kicking her body into overdrive, slipping around the water fountain and off the path as she spun on the spot.

The figure behind her was one she could never forget, the tall, heavily built midnight black lupine cackling, his hands in the pockets of his grey and black dappled cargo pants. He had on a black T-shirt, a faded logo on the front that was totally unrecognizable. The only spot of color on the man were his brilliant red eyes, something about them not quite looking right. Having seen him for the first time ever in the daylight, she had to guess that neither one of his eyes were natural.

"You still frighten like a little Kitten I see! I'm glad I ran into you today, but I don't have the time to play with you! Nor is this the place! See you later, _Bitch_!" his harsh and cruel voice was laced with an insane mirth that only made her heart race even faster. He had turned and begun to walk his own way as he spoke, casually waving back at her as though he was saying bye to a friend.

Her hand was hovering by her thigh, even though she had no blaster on her right now. If she did, even with all of the by-standers nearby, she would have shot him on the spot.

 _I need to run… Now!_ Her feet took over from her mind, taking off from the park as fast as her feet could carry her. Most of the bystanders gave her startled expressions at best, not one understanding, or likely even hearing the exchange after her scream. Some even seemed as amused as he had. She barely noticed them though, racing through the city streets with no capacity to even know where she was going, running out through traffic several times. Somehow, she managed to not be hit, not one of the near misses even changing her state of mind as she continued to wildly run through the city.

The adrenaline coursing through her body finally began to slow, memories and thoughts drifting to her mind as she slowed to a stop in an alley way, much like the one she had been in just a few months ago. Without warning, or intending to, she slipped into the memory of that night, unaware of her surroundings.

 _"Hey **bitch**!" a harsh voice stopped Mira in her tracks, her left ear registering the sound behind her more than her right._

 _On instinct alone, she reached for her blaster, stepping forward to try and keep it away from who ever had spoken while she cleared it from the holster. Simultaneously, she was spinning on the spot, freezing when she saw the weapon loosely leveled on her forehead, mere feet away. A small tendril of vapor slowly poured from the barrel, showing the weapon as having been recently used._

 _"I wouldn't recommend it. You aren't as quick on the draw or accurate as that boyfriend of yours. Draw that, and you are never seeing him again." The midnight black lupine grinned at her, all of his pearly white fangs showing as he slipped of the crate he was on. He looked almost maniacally happy, his red eyes locked to her like those of a predator locked on it's prey._

 _"Pull the weapon from your holster, set it on the ground, and kick it behind you." This time, his voice was not the amused and bored tone he had been speaking with, now harsh, angry, and demanding in ways she could never find words to describe._

 _She did exactly as she was instructed, gently setting the weapon on the concrete with her free hand raised. As soon as she was standing again, she kicked the weapon behind her. "The hell do you want Midnight, and why haven't you just shot me?"_

 _"Now where's the fun in that? Shooting someone in the back is pretty cowardly, don't you think? Besides, I'm not being paid to do that. I'm just here to give you a present is all!" as he spoke, he used his free hand to grab something from his belt, over top his black bodysuit that was helping him be hard to see in the dark alleyway. Once he had whatever object was on his belt, he lightly tossed it at her feet, her eyes naturally following the objects path. It was a small plastic syringe, filled with a purple fluid that seemed to glow slightly._

 _"Inject yourself. Now." He used the same authoritative voice as he had before, the weapon still locked on her forehead._

 _"Go fuck yourself!" she let her eyes return to him as she glared at him._

 _"That was not a polite response, but I guess it's what I should have expected." His thumb operated something on his pistol, just before a white bolt ripped from it. Searing pain ripped across her body as her limbs all contracted at once, leaving her collapsed and twitching on the ground, but oddly still conscious._

 _"Hmph, been awhile since I used this one's stun setting. Forgot that it doesn't actually knock people out." He spoke casually as his weapon whined slightly, likely the weapon being set back to it's lethal settings before it slipped into the man's holster. He calmly closed the gap between them as he scooped the syringe off the ground before standing over her, her body straddled under him._

 _She tried and tried to move, to fight him, but no matter how hard she willed her limbs to move, her body only continued to convulse randomly, each convulsion as painful as the blast had been. The only thing she managed to make was a dull whine, likely not making it past the immediate vicinity._

 ** _No no no no nooo! I can't just sit here! I have to fight him!_** _That was her only comprehensible thought as he crouched over her, removing the protective sleeve from the needle._

 _"You know, I figured this would go down like this. Scream extra loud for me, will you? I'm told this stuff hurts like you wouldn't believe!" he jammed the needle into her arm before shoving the plunger down. For a moment, there was cool relief from the convulsing pain, but that moment was short lived. Everywhere the sensation spread to, felt like every single type of pain imaginable had been unleashed on it and magnified by ten, from burning, tearing ,stabbing sensations, to cold numbness and that awful pins and needles feeling, all intensified as it began to spread rapidly through her body. If she could have right now, she would have let loose with an ear-piercing screech at that moment, but all that came from her convulsing body was a dull whimper._

 _"Hmm. Pathetic." His unamused, almost annoyed words were the last thing she was aware of, the sensations utterly overwhelming her mind._

Mira fell against the closest wall, gasping for breath as her entire body shook to the point that she could barely stand. Searing pain radiated through her legs from her mad sprint until she let her self sit on the ground. With in seconds, a deep and impenetrable chill ran through her body, numbing her senses save the ones of pain from her legs. Moisture soaked every inch of her fur as she tried to regain any semblance of composure. She could not though, knowing that, no matter how far she ran, he could likely easily find her. And even if she was armed, he could overpower her. He had done so before.

 _I need help… I can't do this alone!_ She barely managed to get her phone free from it's pouch on her arm, struggling with inputting the passcode as the salt filled sweat pouring out of her body kept messing with the touch screen. Once she had her dialer open, she froze though.

 _I can't call the cops… they can't do anything… Fox is crippled, Bill is on the mainland now, Krystal has to take care of Fox… there's no one I can… I have to call Will… there's no one else that could help me now!_ She quickly changed apps over to her contact list, scrolling until she found his. Her finger hovered over it though, hesitant to even open it.

 _But… with all I've done to him… would he even help me?_ She gulped, trying to force her doubts aside and clicked the contact. Immediately, it dialed the number, the phone vibrating slightly each time it rang, signaling the call reaching his phone.

 _Come on Will! Pick up, please!_ She nearly dropped the phone, her fur so thoroughly soaked that it made her hands slick, the cold clammy feeling to her body making her grip weak. Finally, the rings stopped, Mira getting a moment of audio before she heard the pitched crack of a plasma weapon, recognizable as a human weapon from sound alone, just before a sudden electronic crack, the line falling dead.

* * *

Plasma bolts ripped by over my head, audibly exploding into the fountain and sending steam into the air. People all around the market square were screaming as they ran from the weapons fire, at least two dozen being shot by stray shots just with in my narrow field of view.

"Bradley, watch left!" I shouted that at him while I rolled over, weapon aimed off the right of the fountain as pedestrians continued to clear from the area. Judging by the muzzle reports, there were several various makes and models of human and Cornerian plasma weapons being fired at us right now, sending a deadly light show of colors through the air. The heat of all the shots was super heating the air around us, making it feel like we were in an over temp sauna.

"This… I… you know, I used to play paintball as a kid? Yeah… good times…. Till.. well, Garrett lost an eye when someone over gassed their marker. It… it was disgusting…" Bradley's voice stuttered out of the canine as he shakily pulled his carbine from his back, tentatively aiming it around the fountain we were pressed up against.

"Bradley, this isn't the time!" I wanted to give him more than just a glancing glare, but it was all I could afford to do.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I just, well, ya know, chatter, when I'm nervous, I guess scared too!" he shouted that back.

A canine came into view, trying to hunker behind carts, a Chinese plasma pistol in hand. I didn't hesitate for a moment, aiming my pistol at his exposed head and firing. My old human pistol bucked in my hand, it's silvery blue bolt ripping clean through the canine's head, dropping him in an instant.

"What… what are we doing!? There's… damn, this looks like that fireworks show last year, just… deadlier."

 _Damn it, will he shut up for thirty seconds!_ The fire lessoned up for a moment, most of the plaza now clear of civilians, those left being people injured by the unknown assailants fire, or were hunkering behind and under whatever stalls and stands they could to hide.

"We-We need to help the civilians, their… that's… fuck I hate blood!"

"Damn it Bradley, calm down, when I tell you, dive into the fountain and start firing back. While you are in there, call central and tell them we are under fire, got me!?" I shouted that over my shoulder, hearing his carbine fire several times.

"O-Okay!"

"Now!" I screamed as I propped myself up, one handed firing my weapon at every flash and figure holding a weapon I saw. The sudden return fire sent the varied people ducking behind cars and stalls. The lapse in fire from the untrained fighters gave Bradley a chance to leap into the fountain. With an empty weapon, I leapt to my feet, running from the fountain and toward the stalls on the right, trying to get as close to the buildings edging the market as I could, Bradley putting surprisingly accurate fire out of the fountain, at least one of the assailants hit by his shots. As soon as I was close enough, I slid behind the closest stall, dropping the empty magazine from my weapon and loading another.

 _One mag down, three more. Gotta make them count…_ from where I was hidden now, I gingerly peaked out, realizing that the opponents were still all firing at the fountain at the center of the square, and didn't seem to have any idea I had moved yet. He quickly counted up the enemies they were up against, reaching at least seven. Three were on the street, hunkered down behind cars and a heavily painted orange van. At least one of them had a beat up and dirt covered M32, currently loading another magazine into the heavy rifle. As I watched, another one stepped out of the van, a belt fed squad automatic weapon in his hand, a full two hundred round box already loaded and ready.

 _Damn it, where the hell did they get a fucking SAW!?_ The saw gunner quickly disappeared around the back of the van, reappearing near it's hood where he set the bipod on the hood before he began firing a stream of fire at the fountain, cutting Bradley's fire off completely.

 _"Central, Ten-Seventy-Eight, Ten-Seventy-Eight, myself and Hawkins are under fire, I say again, we are under fire! We need TRT here now!"_ My radio buzzed to life on my shoulder, cursing as it drew one of the perps attention to me. I ducked down just as several plasma blasts ripped into the stand, slowly chewing it apart.

 _Fuck, I need a bigger gun…_ I aimed under the stand I was at, firing two rounds along the ground level into the foot of the SAW gunner. I could hear the weapon stop firing, the feline operating it howling in pain.

"Bradley, I need you to get their attention again, I need to move!" I shouted that into my radio, not caring that we were still on the squad net.

 _"I'll try! Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck!"_ moments after his voice was on the radio, he started firing again, aiming for any not shooting at him, in his position in the fountain, he had a small advantage in firing, able to fire over the low walls of the fountain better than they could fire in.

As soon as he started firing, I ran out from cover, not firing to save my own ammo. Before I had made it ten steps, I was diving for the concrete. Several plasma bolts ripped through the air I had been about to occupy a moment before, slamming into the buildings and stands around us instead. After only a second or so, I had scrambled back to my feet, running already. In the small space we were in, I was able to cross it very quickly, despite the volume of fire as I continued my short sprints from cover to cover, the enemy getting more frantic as I got closer, focusing less on Bradley. The moment they would start to though, he would put plasma bolts past them, at least one being hit.

The front of the Van was quickly only twenty feet or so from me, the feline still lying on the ground clutching his foot as he continued to yowl in pain. As I watched, a canine moved to scoop the SAW up, stomping on his compatriot to do so. He never got the chance to bring the weapon to bear though as I fired a pair of shots into his chest before sprinting to the front of the van. As I arrived, I fired two more shots, into each of the screaming people's heads with out a second thought. With them dispatched, I holstered my pistol and claimed the SAW for myself, my left hand on the bipod and pressing it forward to brace the weapon for standing shooting as I brought the weapon to my shoulder. As soon as I had the sights in my vision, I stepped out from the back of the van, unleashing several accurate bursts of fire, each tearing through the cover the thugs were using them and dropping them. None of them got a chance to respond to the sudden and precise fire, nothing like the wild spraying the previous user of the weapon had.

With the last one falling, the plaza still didn't fall silent. The injured civilians were still screaming, several of the carts and stands were on fire, bits of stone from the fountain was blasted virtually everywhere, some still falling from the sky like rain, blasted there by the plasma blasts.

"Clear?!" I called that toward Bradley, who poked his soaked head out of the fountain, his hat lost somewhere.

"I thin-" he didn't get to finish as several more silvery bolts ripped away from the building behind me, where the enemy had started near. Without a moment hesitation, I hunkered down behind the closest car and started pulsing bursts from the SAW until the fire from the window stopped, the high-powered rounds likely ripping through the buildings walls.

"NOBODY FUCKING MOVE!" someone shouting that drew my attention, whipping the SAW around to find one last primate near me, at one of the stalls in the market square. He had a vulpine woman by the throught, her brown fur and hair immediately reminding me of Mira in many ways, the woman's belly bulged out in a way that it was undeniable that she was pregnant. He harshly rammed the carbine in his hand against her head, snarling at me. Because of where he was at the edge of the plaza, neither me or Bradley had a clean shot on him.

"Let her go! Now!" I screamed that at him, furious that he would even think of harming an innocent woman, one with a child no less. It was already to the point that I barely noticed the edges of my vison blackening.

"Hah, no way in hell copper! You are going to let me get in that van, and leave, or I'm blowing this stupid girl's brains across this plaza, now out of my way!" he screamed that back at me.

"I will give you one more warning. Let. Her. Go." My grip tightened on the weapon I was holding, the only thing holding me back from unleashing it's fully automatic fury on the man being the woman he was holding.

"No-No, please don't h-"

"Shut up bitch, you think I'm not serious!? Here, let me demonstrate!" the primate suddenly shifted the carbine from the woman's skull, ramming it into the back of her shoulder and firing. The woman screamed, nearly dropping out of his grip as the point blank shot ripped clean through her, likely pulverizing the bones in her shoulder.

The last thing I remembered was squeezing the trigger on the SAW, only for a loud _ka-chunk_ to announce the weapon as empty, or some other malfunction causing the weapon to stop working. In that instant, the man returned the weapon to the girl's head and fired, sending a bolt ripping seemingly through her head.

After that, I couldn't remember what I was doing, it was as though I was shoved to the back seat, pure anger taking over my body. The next thing I was aware of, I was overtop the primate, punching him over and over. My knuckles had ripped open from the repeated strikes, the primate's face mashed and broken, several of his teeth embedded into my fist. Someone was shaking me from the side, shouting in my ear without any comprehension of their words.

 _What am I doing!? I need to stop this!_ That thought managed to jerk me back into control of myself, my entire body trembling as the pain from my injuries started to register in my senses. I had a burn on my left arm, a minor graze at worst, but it was nothing but a huge searing pain. Both of my fists were stinging like I had dipped them in acid.

"Finally, he's out cold man!?" Bradley's hand was still on my shoulder from where he had been shaking me. Now that I was broken from my rage, I started looking around at the plaza, and the shear destruction caused by the short firefight. Dozens of people were still screaming, at least a dozen lying still, not including the bodies of the assailants. Ambulances and other officers were already on scene, at least three officers around myself and Bradley. "You good man? You were… going a little crazy there, now you look pale as a ghost?"

I hesitated in responding, gulping as I looked for the woman the primate had been holding hostage, freezing as I realized I could hear her screaming. Just feet from me, she was lying on the concrete, a paramedic keeping pressure on her shoulder wound. One of her ear's was missing, a visible line carved into her fur and hair along her head from the blaster shot, all charred and carbonized flesh. But she was clearly still alive, at least for the moment.

"I… I'm f-" I let out a shaky sigh, seeing the pool of blood around the vixen's shoulder, as well as what was leaking from her head wound. No matter how hard I tried to stop it, my mind kept imagining Mira in a similar, if not worse condition. The images sent shivering chills down my spine, my entire body shuddering.

"I need to g-get out of her-here…" I couldn't manage to say more, unable to tear my eyes away from the woman until I had been placed on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, the image of her battered body burned into my mind so clearly that it seemed like all I could see anymore.


	12. Darkness

I winced as I flexed my hands, the split skin and punctures still burning. I was supposed to have taken pain, meds, but I hadn't. Add that to the far more intense pain radiating from my left arm, and it was hard to focus. I let out a small sigh as I slipped a magazine into my pistol and pulled the slide back, watching as I released the slide and chambered the first round. My eyes stayed glued to the weapon for several minutes, it's scuffed and pitted frame bringing back countless memories, every scuff and scratch on the weapon telling a story of it's own. It was almost as though it was a tapestry of the life I had gone through.

I did my best to shake that thought from my head as I slipped the weapon into my holster, glancing at the shattered screen on the tactical device sitting on one of the shelves in my locker. As much as it would have been good to try and replace the device, it was hard to find the willpower to do so. I'd had it as long as my sidearm, and it was as storied as it was. That aside, most Cornerian devices didn't even have the capability to be translated into human languages, and would be forced to special order a device anyway. Even many of the files, such as music and images, would have to be converted into Cornerian counterparts. Something I had done on my own time with the ruined device, was painstakingly hunt down conversion programs that allowed me to send and receive messages and calls on Cornerian networks and human.

I quickly closed my locker door, using my handprint to lock it once more.

"Hawkins? The hell are you doing in, you got shot yesterday!?" Bradley was stepping between the rows of lockers, dressed and ready to work, just as I was.

"I could say the same about you."

"Well, I wasn't hit… so…" he made a rolling gesture with his hands, his body visibly trembling still.

"Well, let's get back to work." I walked out from the rows of lockers, linking up with Bradley.

 _Need to keep my mind off things anyway._ I led the way into the elevator, riding all the way up to our floor before stepping out into the main area. Several of the officers immediately eyed the two of us as we moved by, headed for a desk near our briefing room.

"Hawkins, Bradley, my office, now!" The lieutenant was beckoning the two of them toward him from the main door to his office, myself leading the way once more. "Close the door behind you." He spoke as soon as we had entered, gesturing toward the seats across his desk as he sank into his own. We both immediately complied.

"What the hell are the two of you doing here!? I told you to stay home!" he was glaring daggers at both of us, his eyes bouncing back and forth.

"We are short staffed as it is sir, you need us still working." Bradley near immediately retorted with that.

"Bradley, you've never been shot at before today. Take some time off."

"All do respect sir, I've been shot at several times in my life. This is nothing new to me, I c-" I tried to sound calm as I spoke, but even I had to admit, I hadn't slept at all the night before.

"We all know you really mean 'kiss my ass'. You have even more reason to stay at home! You got shot yesterday!" he stood from his chair fast enough to send it slamming into the wall behind him. "And don't even get me started on how you handled yourself during that fight! You executed two of the suspects, and pummeled a third to a point that he may never wake up!" he nearly shouted at us, his glare entirely focused on me.

"That said… the media has been viewing this as a win for the police department. Despite the number of civilian casualties." His voice had dropped considerably, letting out a small sigh. "And I loathe to admit it, but I agree with them. We've had several instances of officers being gunned down in just the same way as they tried to do to you two yesterday, but the two of you are here, in my office. Not the morgue. And that's a win in my books right now."

"Sir, do you know why they opened fire? It seems too… random to have been a deliberate attack." Bradley spoke very quietly.

"We think it was a case of right place, wrong time. The van they were defending had at least two million in narcotics inside it. Personally, I think it was an exchange between supplier and sellers. And one of them saw the two of you and got jumpy."

"Makes sense. Pretty bold to be doing a hand off like that in broad daylight. Then again, they were packing some serious firepower. Where the hell did they get a Squad Automatic Weapon from?" I spoke as calmly as I could, the lieutenant letting out a small sigh.

"I'm not sure, we've been seeing a flood of human weaponry since the war ended on the black market. You could find them before but it was rare."

"Tell me about it… it was a bitch to get ammo for my rifle and handgun, still is, actually." I spoke without thinking, the lieutenant smirking at me.

"Well, be glad that human weapons aren't actually illegal here, otherwise, you would be in hot water for saying that. As it is, we've been trying to sniff out where these weapons are coming from, but it's currently unknown. Best guess is salvaged from the battlefields, but we've been seeing brand new equipment too." He let out another sigh, his expression finally softening. "In any case, both of you. Go. Home. Hawkins, you need to heal, and Bradley, you need to get your head back on straight. I don't want to see either of you back in here for at least another week."

"Roger that sir!" we spoke almost in unison, glancing at each other for a moment.

"Alright, dismissed, and get some rest."

We stood and saluted the lieutenant before turning and leaving the room, both of us remaining silent until we reached the elevator.

"So, Hawkins, you really good…? after all that... well… things…" Bradley was quiet, staring at the wall of the elevator.

"Yes. I'm fine. I just snapped a little in the heat of the moment."

"Why?" he finally turned his warm brown eyes on me, his eyebrows pressed together.

I let out a small sigh, not really feeling like telling him if I was honest with myself.

 _No real reason not to though. He had your back out there, even with how much of a panic he was in._

"That girl the primate took hostage… she reminded me of someone I know."

"Yeah… I guess that's fair. I'd have freaked out if that gal looked like my mother or something too." He looked away again, letting out a shuddering sigh.

"you were freaking out pretty badly already." I tried to give him a smirk, more to try and reassure him somehow, but I couldn't manage it.

"Yeah… that was fucking terrifying. And you used to do that shit for a living!?"

"Yeah, you get used to it after awhile. You did good though. Chatter boxing aside. You put effective fire on them, and I wouldn't have been able to move on them without you. So thanks. For covering my ass."

"Anytime man." As he spoke, the elevator doors opened, the two of us stepping out together. "Look, I don't want to be a bother, but you wanna go get a drink? I could use one. Maybe calm my nerves a bit…"

"No. sorry. I just want take my bike out for a long drive. Clear my head." I spoke as I reached the door for the locker room, opening it as soon as I got to it.

"Alright… I guess I'll find something to do then. If ya need something, gimme a call."

"Can't no phone still." Without realizing it, my voice had returned to the harsher, more direct tone I normally had.

"Right. Take care I guess my dude." As he spoke, we parted ways, headed for our separate lockers.

* * *

Fox startled slightly, his cell phone ringing on his desk. He quickly scooped the device up, remaining seated behind the desk. The number calling him wasn't one he recognized or recognized in his device. He let out a sigh but answered the device.

"Hello, Fox McCloud speaking." He boredly answered the device, so used to answering unknown numbers from his job as a mercenary that this was totally normal.

"Hi, uh, my name is Blake slate, I'm sorry to be calling you, I know you're retired and all…"

 _Wow, that's a first. Normally it's some sales call or someone looking for a contract… and where have I heard that name before?_

"it's fine, I get calls all the time still. What did you need sir?" he kept his tone calm and even, how he would always talk with potential clients.

"It's Mira! I can't get ahold of her, she won't answer her phone! I know she's in her apartment right now, I can hear her through the door but she won't respond to me! She's really freaking me out right now! It's been days!" his voice blurted out of him, the rush to his words making his fear all the more evident.

"What!? What do you mean!?"

"It…It's exactly as it sounds! I'm outside her apartment now, I don't have a clue what to do!" his voice rose several octaves over the call, actually cracking in the speaker as it reached tones the device couldn't produce.

"Alright. I'll be over there shortly. Let me know if you reach her." Fox spoke quickly, nearly jumping out of his chair.

"Okay…" he heard the device hang up, immediately moving to pocket his phone. Before he could though, his right leg gave out on him, so suddenly that he was immediately dropped clean to the classroom floor. Pain shot through most of his body from the sudden impact, his phone skidding across the floor.

 _Damn it, that hurt!_ He propped himself back up on his elbows, his leg still totally numb. He let out a small sigh, crawling forward to check on the condition of his phone. Thankfully, the device was undamaged, Fox rolling into a sitting position to pocket the device. An idea hitting his mind stopped him before slipping it away. He unlocked the device, flicking through his tiny list of contacts to find Will's, quickly selecting it and calling. It immediately went to voice mail, Fox frowning.

 _Huh… strange, he never lets his phone die, or turns it off… guess I'll go see if he's home, his apartment is on the way to Mira's anyway…_ he let out a small sigh as he pocketed the phone, grimacing as his leg started to tingle. The sensation slowly grew into excruciating pain, Fox groaning as he massaged his leg.

As soon as he could feel his leg enough to put weight on it again, he got back to his feet, grabbing his cane before leaving the room. It took him much longer to navigate the halls of the academy, even with it nearly empty right now, his leg kept going numb on him, forcing him to stop and brace himself for several moments.

Once he reached his vehicle, he let out a small relieved sigh, resting there a moment before starting the engine up and peeling away from the academy's staff parking. In minutes, he was making his way across the city. It didn't take him very long to reach Will's apartment, just hoping he was there right now.

After a short walk through the parking garage and elevator ride, he found himself at Will's door, knocking as soon as he got there. The door was almost immediately answered, Fox startling slightly upon seeing Will.

He looked very pale, both of his eyes barely open. He also wasn't wearing a shirt at the moment, looking like he had just woken up. That said, Fox's eyes were immediately drawn to the bandage around Will's arm, and garbage strewn about the room.

"Hey Fox. Need something?" as tired as he seemed, he still sounded fairly alert.

"Well, it's Mira. She apparently hasn't come out of her apartment in days." Fox spoke as calmly as he could, though he knew he likely sounded extremely nervous, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh… that's… odd." He went quiet for several moments, looking away from Fox. "I wonder if her call the other day has something to do with this…" he mumbled to himself, clearly lost in thought for a moment.

"So uh, why didn't you answer your phone earlier? And what's with the bandages too?" Fox gestured at the bandage on Will's arm, just noticing his hands were also bandaged.

"Oh… I got into a firefight what… three days ago? Got grazed and got into a fistfight with one of the suspects. I'm on admin leave for the week and my phone is busted."

"Oh… you attract those like lint at this point. Anyway, I thought you might be able to help me coax her out."

Will smirked a little, letting out a small chuckle. "You make it sound like we're dealing with a wild animal."

"Yeah, I guess I did. Anyway, think you can help?"

"yeah, I'll try. Go ahead and get going, I'll follow along shortly. Wanna get some clean clothes at least."

"Alright, see you there." Fox gently clapped his uninjured shoulder before turning and heading back toward his vehicle.

* * *

Mira clutched her blaster tightly in her hand, able to hear someone banging on the door, but she tried her best to ignore it. She was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes constantly scanning the small dark room for any sign of a threat. Her heart felt like it hadn't stopped pounding for days. She was utterly exhausted, but she forced her eyes to stay wide open. Her apartment was what most people would call excruciatingly tiny. The narrow rectangular room was barely wide enough to have any furniture and a walkway. It started with a small 'kitchen' by the entrance door with a single sink, one cabinet with a microwave suspended above it. Next to it was a tiny fridge. After that was a single seat table and chair, followed by some empty space, where she was currently sitting against the wall. After there was her bed, a tiny twin sized affair that left barely enough room to walk or open the door to the equally small closet across from it. The narrow apartment ended with a single window.

As tiny as the apartment was, it had been extremely affordable. And though she despised the communal bathroom facilities, and that she was surrounded by college students, it had been all she could afford before she joined Star Fox.

That said, it felt safer in the tiny, and currently dark, space than anywhere else she could think of on the planet. She hadn't moved from her where she now sat since her encounter with Midnight, her blaster charged and safety off. The only exception was sneaking her way to the bathroom a couple of times to relieve herself.

Her eyes slowly started drooping closed until her mind realized what was happening, forcing herself to jolt awake. She let out a shuddering sigh, her gut wringing up inside of her. Her entire body pulsed with pain, every muscle feeling like lead to her.

Despite how exhausted she felt, her mind was running non-stop, creating unending images of various ways Midnight could attack, and subsequently, kill her. Each one pulled from her multiple experiences on the battlefield, from the injuries she had seen, to those she had sustained herself. Her imagination was filling in the rest from that knowledge. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her imagination to stop, each scenario making her shake worse and worse. Tears slowly soaked her fur, Mira not even making any attempts to stop them.

 _"Mira? Can you hear me in there?"_ she heard a muffled voice, snapping the weapon toward the door of the apartment. Her aim dipped and swayed, shaking hard enough that the sights were drifting off the door, despite the short range.

"Go away, or I'll shoot you!" she shouted that out, her voice cracking so badly that it barely was more than a croak.

 _"Mira, it's Fox. I can't hear you through the door. Let me in, whatever is going on, I can help you."_ Now that she heard the voice again, she recognized it as Fox's.

 _No! there's no way he can help! He can't fight in his condition, Midnight would just kill him too! I can't let that happen!_

"Fox, Fuck off!" she managed to keep the cracks in her voice down enough to actually shout that time, keeping the weapon aimed relatively at the door.

 _"What!? Mira! I'm your friend! I can help you!"_

"No. you can't. just go away Fox! Now!" she screamed that at the door, beginning to sob as she realized how alone she was. The weapon thumped onto the carpet as she lost the strength to continue holding it up, trying fruitlessly to wipe the tears from her face. She could hear muffled words through the door, but they were so faint that none were decipherable. Not that she even cared. She simply wanted them to go away.

 _"Mira…"_ one word echoed through the door, carrying through her room like a reverberating cannon shot.

 _Was that… no… he wouldn't… he was shot! I heard it!_ Her brain reeled in her skull, trying to find some way to deny who's voice she just heard.

 _"It's… Well, it's Will. Listen, I don't know what's going on, but I'm right here for you. If you don't want to talk, or if you want me to stay out, that's fine. I'm gonna sit right here, by your door, until you are willing to come out. So… take you're time okay?"_ his voice was quieter this time, even muffled, she could detect traces of his unease in his tones, his worry, and what seemed to be as much fear as she felt.

 _W-What do I do?_ Her mind raced, her imagination still in overdrive. But now, it was imagining scenarios where Midnight was attacking Will and herself together. And not one was she ending up killed. She gulped before she moved to stand up, still firmly clutching the blaster in her hand. As soon as she tried though, she found her leg muscles unresponsive, shaking and wobbling so badly that she thudded back onto the floor.

 _"Mira!? Are you alright!? Say something, I felt something hit the floor in there!"_ her heart leapt into her throat as she heard his worried shout, taking a deep and shaky breath.

"Y-Yeah…" she barely managed any volume with her shout, but judging by her door not being beaten down, Will had heard her. She slowly crawled her way to the door, sitting up against it the moment she got there. Just that short crawl had been both excruciating and exhausting, panting slightly as she rested against the wood.

"W-Will? I… I'm scared…" she spoke as loud as she dared, fear rising in her throat as she waited for a response. A moment later, she felt the door creak and shift, almost as though someone on the other side had leaned against it as well.

"It's okay to be afraid Mira. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on though." His voice was surprisingly clear, carrying to her side of the door with ease.

"M..m-m… he…." Mira struggled to get the name out, just the thought of saying it terrifying her. She quickly pulled her legs to her chest before burying her face in them fresh sobs ripping out of her.

"Okay. I get it. You can't say it right now. I'm still right here for you, for as long as you need me to be." His voice was very calm and gentle, Mira somehow able to feel the smile accompanying it. Of course, that was probably her imagination too. Even so, she believed she could feel it with all of her heart in that moment.

She let out several more shuddering sobs, all of her emotions cascading together into an unintelligible mass of incoherent thoughts rampaging through her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull herself together enough to form any words, not even the thoughts for words.

"Mira…" he softly started, his voice dying before he could even finish saying her name. a soft sniffle echoed through the door, something about hearing it getting her mind to calm enough to think a little clearer, if only just.

"Wi-ill.. c-cc-can I s-sstay at your p-plac-ce tonight?"

"Of course Mira. I'm on admin leave for a few more days anyway, but you can come stay for as long as you like." His voice was soft and gentle again, exactly as it had been before.

She let out a shuddering sigh, deciding to let the blaster thump to the floor again before using the counter to help herself stand. Once on her feet, she found herself swaying uncontrollably, but stable enough that she could work the locking mechanisms for the door, quickly unlocking it. When she opened it, she found Will standing in the hallway, his riding jacket on, and his blaster on his side. He looked exhausted, but he gave her a small smile anyway.

"Glad to see that door open. You look terrible right now." He let out a small, playful chuckle, his smile remaining in place for her.

She quietly nodded in agreement with him, nearly collapsing right there as her exhaustion threatened to take over. Before she knew it, she had slumped over, his arms snaking under her's to catch her and pull her into a gentle embrace.

The next thing she knew, the light was on, and she was lying on her bed. The closet was open, and Will was standing before her, slowly stuffing outfits into her small back pack for her. Her blaster was barely visible, tucked into the back of Will's pants, and only when he stooped over to grab something.

"D-Don't let me sleep… please…" she reached out for him as she spoke, gently grabbing the denim of his pants.

He stopped what he was doing to crouch before her, clutching the hand she had used in both of his. "It's okay Mira, sleep. You need it. I promise you, I will keep you safe, okay? You don't have to be afraid." He smiled broadly to her, gently rubbing her hand with one of his thumbs.

"Promise… Promise me you won't fall asleep while I am… please?" Tears stung her eyes, barely managing to whisper that. Her gut was tying itself into knots once more.

"I promise Mira." He answered without a moment of hesitation. "Now sleep, okay?" he placed a hand on her shoulder now, giving it a gentle squeeze.

She took in a deep breath before gently nodding, letting her eyes close once more. She could feel him gently rubbing her shoulder and hand, never losing that sensation while she slipped off into sleep once more.


End file.
